Target 1-3 personal conversations at networking events

I went to a sub-contractor networking event yesterday hosted by my prime proposal partners.

Networking events with government contractors are my least favorite thing to do. I hate juggling my beer and small plate of snacks and making awkward chit chat.

Now, some people love this stuff. They love talking with everyone and connecting on LinkedIn and blah blah blah.

That's not my style. It's very draining to me.

So what I do instead is to set up a goal of talking to 1-3 people there. I'll try to talk to the host if they're there, and then a few other new people.

Once I do that, I give myself permission to leave.

In this case, my main prime POC wasn't there (which is why I went in the first place), so I chatted with some other folks at the prime, met a few other sub-contractors, and then went home. It took about an hour.

If you have to go to a networking event and you hate doing them, just set a small attainable goal of having 1-3 good conversations and then get the hell out of there.

Who knows, maybe one of those conversations can lead to a new opportunity down the line.

But if not, at least you didn't waste an extra few hours at something you didn't want to do in the first place.

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