Target – Aim – Goal

What will you do to get you closer to the goal?

I recently experienced the effect of setting a goal before going to a business gathering, a networking event.

Let me give you an example of the effect.

Rae-Ann Ruszkowski was going to receive an award for her work at Working Wardrobes, a charitable organization that helps people in challenging situations enter the workforce and achieve self-sufficiency. She invited me to attend the event.

I was going to arrive at the event before Rae-Ann. She half-jokingly said that when she got there, I’d be in the middle of a circle of 10 people.

I thought, “Yeow, what a demand!”

Things flowed. I met people, who introduced me to people, who introduced me to more people. I showed them that I was actively working on remembering their names.

I described this situation in most of my recent LACE sessions. I said to my afternoon group: “Luckily, when Rae-Ann arrived, I had a semi-circle of 8 people in front of me.” A lady in the audience said, “No, you weren’t lucky. You had a goal going in and realized it.” (Wow! I’m supposed to say that !!!)

Here are 5 good goal ideas for you before going to a networking event:

1. Just going in the first place. Sometimes this is the hardest thing for people. No matter what the outcome – your focus is to go, get familiar with the surroundings, and see how it works / who attends. (Know this – you have no idea how many people there are as uncomfortable as you!).
2. Make 3 new contacts.
3. Approach a group of at least 3 people carrying on an active conversation.
4. Research someone from the association’s LinkedIn group, and meet them in person.
5. Remember the names of everyone you meet. Read my Remembering Names post for some tips on what to practice.