On Wednesday, September 30th, over 150 young professionals and approximately 70 advertising industry executives convened at the USA Today offices in midtown Manhattan for the annual Networking with Notables event. Hosted by AWNY’s Young Executive Committee, the event brought together young female professionals and influential industry leaders with 20+ years of experience, creating a forum for information and perspective to traded by both groups.
The two-hour long event began with a short presentation by Kathy Aaronson, Founder and CEO of the executive search firm, The Sales Athlete. During her half-hour session, Ms. Aaronson coached the attendees on how to network and connect with the “Notables” in a compelling way. “If you leave a lasting impression…you will find that networking works,” she advised.
Her advice centered on four easy steps. Step one is that successful networking starts by focusing on the benefit you can provide to the executives, not on what the executives can do for you. She said, “If they feel you are serving them, in turn, they will serve you.”
As part of step two, attendees learned how to answer the question, “What do you do?” in a concise, meaningful way. After reviewing several examples, Ms. Aaronson asked each person in the room to craft their own 30-second statement. She then went around the room and had each person practice reading their response.
Step three focused on body language, eye contact and head position. Ms. Aaronson suggested that after the event, everyone take the opportunity to look in a mirror and evaluate how they carry themselves. Her advice: keep your shoulders back, head up, and eyes open and warm.
Making a successful introduction was the goal of step four. Ms. Aaronson advised attendees to ignite a conversation with eye contact, a smile and the perfect handshake. Everyone in the room was required to give Ms. Aaronson a perfect handshake before heading upstairs to join the Notables.
At the conclusion of the networking presentation, the young professionals joined the Notables in the office’s main conference room. Taking the advice they had just received, many quickly approached Notables and struck up conversations; stories were traded and business cards were exchanged.
"For a Young Executive, often it's not easy to get in front of high level individuals in a social setting. At this event, everyone was open and willing to graciously share their experiences and their business cards!" noted Laura Mignott.
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