Speed networking

When I first started attending business English conferences (notably the annual BESIG conferences held each year in November), I always felt uncomfortable approaching people and trying to strike up a conversation. In training sessions I try to develop my participants' socializing skills in English, yet at events I attend myself, I'm often too shy to put these same skills into practice.

This has become much easier for me since I got into online social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Ning, but my social and professional circle at conferences is still relatively small. For example, at the Sprachen & Beruf conference held in Düsseldorf earlier this week, I knew very few of the participants who were attending, and felt a touch apprehensive at approaching "strangers" and thinking of something remotely interesting to say.

Well, this may be about to change. It seems I'm not the only one suffering from social reticence — many participants from previous Sprachen & Beruf conferences voiced similar opinions, saying they would have preferred the conference to offer more opportunities for networking and meeting people. So this year the conference organizers tried out a new socializing tool: speed networking.

Similar to speed dating, speed networking allows a large number of professionals to make contact with each other in a very short space of time. The craze has gained popularity in both the UK and the US, where it is used not only at business conferences, but also by universities in an attempt to match graduates with potential employers.

The system is simple: you talk to someone for three minutes (i.e. each person talks for a minute and a half), exchanging business cards and finding out about your conversation partner. Then on a signal (e.g. a whistle-blow), you move to the next person and start again. In the speed networking session on the first day of the Sprachen & Beruf conference there were 26 participants in two rows of 13. One row remained in their seats, while the other row kept moving one seat along, meaning each person had the chance to network with 13 other people.

Speed networking in action Photo: Fotoagentur FOX / Uwe Völkner, © ICWE GmbH

As you can imagine, it was a very loud session as 13 conversations were going on at any one time, and it was quite tiring and hard work to be talking for such a long stretch of time. You really need to have your elevator pitch prepared in such a situation! The feedback at the end of the session was very positive, with trainers agreeing that it was an ideal way to break the ice at the beginning of such an event.

This video shows how Michigan State University uses speed networking and gives you an idea of what it looks like in practice. (Tip: search for "Speed Networking" on YouTube for similar videos.)

I can also imagine a speed networking activity working well in business English classes, especially for reinforcing the vocabulary and structures for talking about yourself and your company, as the participants repeat the same thing over and over again — a fun way of drilling. I've done similar activities with my students in the past, but only in the scenario of socializing at the coffee breaks and over lunch. With speed networking you have to think and speak a lot faster. I imagine that, due the pace of the activity, plus the sound of the whistle (or bell or gong), it would make for a much more dynamic lesson. Deborah Capras' blog post could then provide a useful follow-up activity for students.

So the next time you attend a conference, look out for the speed networking session — it could just provide you with the opportunity to meet that special someone. After all, strangers are only friends we haven't yet met.

The elevator pitch...

Listen...

Network!

All photos: Fotoagentur FOX / Uwe Völkner, © ICWE GmbH