In my previous blog on networking, I covered the fundamentals of networking in public relations. In this blog, we will learn how to prepare for a networking. The first most thing to know in networking is, it starts with you. Before you go and interact with your peers, you need to pause and think about what you are bringing to the table. You need to prepare yourself in a way that the other people will take interest in investing their time in listening to you. 

Let’s have a look at the following pointers to prepare yourself for your first networking experience.

1. Be confident about yourself
Self doubt is the biggest obstacle for anyone who wants to achieve anything in life. You need to be comfortable in your own skin in order to be successful. If you are not confident in yourself, it will be difficult to achieve your goals. Believe in yourself and you can achieve anything. This is a very powerful statement that can change your life. Confidence is the key to keep yourself motivated to go out of your comfort zone.

2. Identify your strength
Every single person on this Earth has something in which they are best at, it’s just a matter of identifying that something in you. Once you have done that, start sharpening that strength. This will boost your confidence and also will make you understand yourself and what makes you happy as well as fulfilled.

3. Create an elevator pitch
Once you have identified your strength, the next step is to create an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that you can use to introduce yourself and your business to someone you just met. It should be no more than 30 seconds long, and it should explain what you do, what you’re looking for, and why the person you’re talking to should care.

4. Remove your fears of interacting with new people
There is no need to be fearful of interacting with new people. Everyone is different and there is no need to be afraid of what someone may think of you. Just be yourself and enjoy the conversation. Always remember that your main objective in networking is to learn and that will only happen if you will interact with new and experienced people. Do not let any negative thoughts come into your mind. Just be excited to learn and experience new things.

5. Don’t be ashamed of your weaknesses
The truth is, we all have things we need to work on. No one is perfect in this world. We all have weaknesses. And that’s okay. Don’t be ashamed of your weaknesses. Embrace them. Own them. And then work on them. It is absolutely fine if you don’t know something but it is not okay to sit back on that and not to try to learn and overcome that weakness.  

6. Be curious to know new things
While interacting with someone, if the other person asks you something which you don’t know, you might feel a little bit insecure at that moment. Instead of feeling insecure, you can clearly tell that person that you don’t know about it but are curious to know. Ask questions about that particular topic and take interest to know more about it. This is how you are showing that though you don’t have much knowledge about a particular topic but you are working towards expanding your knowledge. A curious mind can hold any conversation better than anyone else.

You can therefore better prepare yourself for any interaction by following these steps. However, we are not done yet. In my next blog I will discuss the process of networking. Meanwhile, work on these and check back for the next blog!

– Tamanna Singh 

Tamanna is an Alumna of SCoRe (Class of 2020) and has worked as a PR consultant before (re)joining SCoRe as the Head of Student Affairs. She has also been a teacher previously, which helps her ensure that our curriculum & pedagogy are the best in the country, and our students get the value they join us for.  She has worked as a PR Consultant at Value 360 Communications, New Delhi. She has a knack for being brutally honest, for which is she is as respected as she is feared! She goes by @TamannaS03 on Twitter.