Social Business Success

Network your way to success.  Seems like quite the popular theme of late.

Last week I had the opportunity to be a presenter at an event sponsored by Network 2 NewWork in Grand Rapids.  The event was to give the under and unemployed additional skills in today’s business world.  There was a session on What is Good Networking by Ken Soper, a Mock Interview, Behaviors and Habits on what not to do during an interview (by Kimberly Stein and Heather Den Houter), and I conducted Polishing Your LinkedIn Profile and Using LinkedIn to Maximize Opportunities and Get More Face to Face Meetings.

My first session on Polishing Your LikedIn Profile involved going through each section of the profile.  What each section means and how each section should be written.  I started with the photograph and ended with experience.

I’m talking about the photograph for your LinkedIn profile.

The second presentation was how to use LinkedIn, which as I see it, is marketing yourself.  Another part of the presentation talked about networking on LinkedIn.  There is a skill to networking in person and a skill to virtual networking.

I thoroughly enjoyed conducting the presentations on LinkedIn at this event.  My objective was to give the attendees enough information to either start developing their profile, or improve their profile and learn how to use the power of LinkedIn.

After the workshops there was plenty of time for networking.  Everyone had a chance to meet each another to find out they can help one another.  Good networking techniques were even taught during the mixer part of the program.

While the attendees were meeting one another, people came up to me with questions.  I spent the remainder of the evening helping people one-on-one with LinkedIn.  I enjoy helping people use LinkedIn.  I go by the philosophy of “helping people without expecting anything in return”.  It was wonderful that so many people wanted to learn more about LinkedIn and how this social networking program help them.

The event had a great turnout as there were nearly 90 people in attendance.  In fact, many people stayed to talk after the program officially ended.  In my opinion this was the best Network 2 NewWork event yet.  Most organizations suspend their meetings during the summer because of low attendance and here this organization had a record turnout.  It just proves that people really do want to learn how to improve themselves no matter what the weather.

All of the presenters generously donated their time to share their expertise at this event and all of them believe in networking.

Network 2 NewWork is an event staffed entirely by volunteers.  It has been generously funded through the support of the Employment and Resource Network (EaRN), a non-profit dedicated to helping individuals discover their calling and find meaningful work.