Networking Case Study: Olswang

The Brief

Around 35 associates from different departments had asked for some networking skills training in anticipation of a forthcoming event at which they were to mix and mingle with an assortment of clients and prospective clients.

The time allotted for this session was three hours, to be delivered in the late afternoon.

The Tricky Bit

It's after lunch, they have been at their desks since 8am and thereís the prospect of yet more work once the session is done.

Furthermore the delegates had already received networking training over the past few years so this session had to tell them something they didn't already know in addition to furnishing them with tips ,techniques and ideas they could put in to play straight away.

The Result

During the session I covered all the good wholesome stuff you'd expect to see in a networking course, including, listening skills, body language, developing and moving along conversations, the importance of the first impression, eye contact, as well as the practical minefield of breaking in to groups, initiating conversation, remembering names and moving on.

However, I also thought it might be helpful for lawyers at this level to be given the skills to follow up after networking events. And so I shared with them a process that I have found successful in doing just that.

(No PowerPoint was harmed/used during the delivery of this presentation.)

Here's what they said afterwards:

• Excellent training session. Interesting, informative, practical and useful. I would definitely recommend this session to anyone who has to go to networking events.
• Some handouts to remind you of helpful tips would be useful actually...
• Excellent training session - I really felt that I had really learned something.
• The presenter had a great use of anecdotes, was very funny and managed to teach in a memorable way
• This was one of the best training sessions I have been to. Really informative and useful and the presenter kept our attention throughout.br> Engaging and enthusing
• Excellent. One of the best presenters of any training session I have been to
• Informative, amusing, confident
• Great
• Very good and engaging
• Nick was an effective speaker, using humour and examples well
• Engaging
• Very good
• Very charismatic, very informative
• Nick was excellent. Entertaining and with a good combination of specific tips and general advice.
• Very good, very funny
• Very engaging and amusing and with a good easy patter
• Entertaining, Knowledgeable, Astute