Reflection #4: On Networking

Apologies for the week-long hiatus. I am so impressed with people who can blog every day, or even on any sort of regular schedule. Nevertheless, I am back to continue my eight reflections, consecutive or not.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, one of the events I attended in recent weeks was the Solving for X workshop, a networking workshop taught by Michael Roderick. Four hours with twenty-six people from a variety of professions, all in entertainment, in a studio in Chelsea on a Saturday morning.

I spent a lot of the workshop thinking about the circumstances in which I have needed to apply the tools being presented, or opportunities I've been given that I need to take advantage of- I have to consider the practical application of what I'm being presented with in order for it to mean anything in my life. According to two friends in the room, it appeared to them that I was not having a good time- I don't think having a good time was the point, but any apparent lack of enjoyment was in fact internalization and self-assessment- in the context of a networking workshop I find it a little disconcerting that my body language can be read so negatively. As someone who is always doing, the chance for reflection was a very welcome outcome of the workshop. I am certainly not the first person to participate in any discussion unless I think I already have absorbed and understood the material, in which case being in class is already kind of pointless. I'd rather think things through for myself before saying them outloud so that I can be clear and concise. Often when I direct I don't get the chance to do that, meaning that I ramble for a while because I don't know yet how to say what I'm getting at. The same thing happens in any situation when I am put on the spot to speak and am not prepared to do so. And you wonder why I'm not an improviser. Maybe I need an extemporaneous speaking class.

But in the context of a workshop, I am going to sit in silence and let other people's thoughts sit in my head so that I can appropriately sift through them. Participating in exercises was a nice challenge because they were directed, and also because for the most part they came from how to express actual needs and desires. Although the third time you're telling someone you're looking for producers and playwrights it starts to sound kind of false- that part made me want to go back and reassess what exactly it is I need. I think "producers and playwrights" is a general way of saying "new projects to direct and people to help me mount them". Still general, but a little clearer in terms of my own needs, perhaps.

I left with the feeling that were I to walk into a networking event that evening, I would not necessarily handle myself any better than when I entered that morning, because I think like most things, these tools take both internalization and practice- and it's a good feeling to know they are things you can improve in yourself and not tricks that some are able to conjure at will.

I had a discussion following the workshop about social networking versus career networking. Obviously our industry is a social one by nature. But I often find myself with social relationships where I desire working ones and vice versa. I would be interested to hear a discussion of how to control that aspect of networking, particularly when going to events with peers, where the groundwork for social vs. industry is so unclear.

Lastly, it was a really interesting group of people, and it was great to have a room full of (mostly) strangers with such varying backgrounds. I think that was unintentionally very effective because it gave me the opportunity to realize that I absolutely gravitate towards those I know, and that it really takes another step for me to break out of that and approach strangers. I thought I was extroverted until I started meeting truly extroverted people... there is a love of discussion with strangers that I don't have.

If you ever have the chance to take a workshop from Michael Roderick, do it!

Hope you're all having a fantastic turkey day!