Top Five Festive Networking Tips for EMBA Candidates

It’s all too easy for the year can get away on us and come December we’re left scratching our heads asking: “where did the year go?” If communication with your contacts has fallen by the wayside during the past 11 months, don’t wait until the New Year to get in touch. Be sure to give them a ring before the year is over. Chances are your schedules won’t allow for a face-to-face meeting with such short notice, but a phone call is definitely better than an email. You can then both promise to make more of an effort to stay in touch next year!

If there’s a networking event with a festive theme or a final festive hurrah at the office, get into the Christmas spirit and make the most of this opportunity. Don’t be the Christmas grouch and refuse to wear a Santa hat – events that have a theme or require even just a small element of fancy dress are a great way to break the ice. It gives you something to talk about to take the edge of that sometimes uncomfortable introduction and before you know it, you’ll have attended one of the best – and fun – networking events of the year!

It’s easy to overindulge at any social occasion, but it’s especially easy to do so at Christmas. When tables are laden with mince pies, chocolates and other festive treats, not to mention a bar stocked with mulled wine and champagne, the potential to let your guard down can be high. But remember, first impressions do count and lasting impressions can make an impact as well. Any networking event in the lead up to Christmas is just as important and potentially beneficial as the networking event you attended earlier in the year. So relax and enjoy yourself, mix and mingle and make the connections but stay sober. A slight slip of the tongue is the last thing you need when you’re networking with the chief exec!

The end of the year is a busy season for everyone so if you meet someone it can be easy for best laid plans in the New Year to be forgotten. Don’t let them! Successful networking is all about staying in touch, so make one of the last things this year be to email that person you met and say you’re looking forward to touching base with them again in the New Year. Mark it in the calendar, in the diary, and if necessary on the phone, so there’s no chance of forgetting to follow up come January.

The New Year is also a time for resolutions, so why not make your 2012 resolution one related to networking. Can you attend 12 networking events in 2012? Or perhaps start networking outside of your industry. Are there some introductions you’ve been meaning to make but haven’t yet got around to doing? Include an element of networking into your daily or weekly routine and you’ll be reaping the rewards throughout the year.