Стр. 12 - Skurikhin_Communicative style

Упрощенная HTML-версия

3)
Do you agree with all the advice in the texts?
Breaking the ice (part 1)
Everyone knows that conferences are great for networking. Of course, you might also
learn some new things at the presentations and workshops, but it’s what happens during
the coffee breaks and the evening events that make conferences such a good use of your
time and money. Conferences are all about meeting people and, yes, making friends. Of
course, some of those new contacts may become customers for your company too, but
don’t try to sell to them at the conference unless you really have to. Most of the people
you meet won’t want to buy from you – but they might be able to point you in the
direction of some potential customers that they know. In other words, relax – don’t try
too hard. Just be yourself, and allow any business partnerships to appear naturally.
The most difficult part of networking is always breaking the ice: starting a conversation
with a stranger and then keeping it going for those important first five minutes. It can be
incredibly daunting to walk into a room full of people, all of whom seem to know each
other and are involved in deep conversations. How on earth do you join in? Well, the
most important thing to remember is that most of those people are in the same position as
you. Half the people in the group conversations also don’t know anybody and are
nervously trying to get involved. The busy-looking people who are walking around the
hall are probably just pretending to be busy so they don’t have to admit that they’re
alone.
The best thing to do is to try to get involved in one of the conversations. It’s polite to
introduce yourself and ask if you can join the group, but there’s nothing wrong with
standing and listening for a few minutes first. Don’t worry that the group are discussing
top-secret business deals: they almost certainly aren’t! And if they are, they should
expect people to interrupt them from time to time – it’s a networking event, after all.
The worst thing to do – apart from standing in the middle of the hall by yourself – is to
walk around looking busy. This is like holding up a sign saying ‘Please don’t talk to me’.
If you really feel too embarrassed to talk to strangers, perhaps you should go home and
try to network at the conference tomorrow, where it should be much easier. A much
better solution, though, is to move slowly around the room, make eye contact with
people, smile and say ‘hello’. That way, even if you’re too nervous to start a
conversation, other people will understand that they can start a conversation with you.
Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemies: we feel bad when no-one wants to talk to us,
but then when someone tries to engage us in conversation, we can’t wait to get away. If
someone has made the effort to come up to you, they deserve at least five minutes of your
time, no matter how boring that person seems. Even if you decide at the end of that time
that the person is too boring to talk to, perhaps they can introduce you to someone else
who you can talk to.
And if you’re lucky, perhaps more people will join your conversation group, and
suddenly you’ll find yourself in the middle of the action.
12