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How to PlayThe Networking Game
Discovered and described
by Pat Wagner and Leif Smith.
Existing for centuries.
Fine Print
• Use this without restriction.
• Please give credit to Meg Biddle
if you use art that follows. (2003)
• Excuse my self-indulgence:
– love serif type
And now, everyone, it is my pleasure
to introduce you to everyone else!
Agenda
• Brief introduction and history.
• The Networking Game.
• The Five Rules.
• The Core Exercises.
• Typical problems.
• Questions?
Brief Introduction & History
• Office for Open Network - 1975.
• Networking is universal.
• Information exchange.
• Mutual benefit.
• Anyone can be useful to anyone.
Scholarly FAQS
• Humans have always networked:
– economics: exchanging values
– technology transfer and influence
– theory: finding reasons to trade
– theory: open harbors
History-Audiences
• Librarians.• Board trustees.• Community leaders.• Girl Scouts.• Church members.• Scientists and engineers.
History-Purposes
• Job-hunting.• Community-building.• Ice-breakers.• Problem-solving. • Brain-storming.• Research.• Resource-sharing.
The Networking Game
• Remove barriers to exchange.
• Give participants permission.
• Let them become stars.
• The Test: They don’t miss you.
• The conversations are the key.
• Trust the process.
The Five Rules
• Be Useful.
• Don’t Be Boring.
• Listen.
• Ask questions.
• Play the Wild Card.
Be Useful
• Reciprocal:– be useful– let other people be useful to you
• Networking is a tool:– a means, not an end– let the person go back to work
Don’t Be Boring
• Three ways to be boring:
– too much information
– taking, not giving
– giving, not taking
• Most people are lopsided.
Listen
• Who should we listen to?– people we don’t like– people different from us– people with new information– people we take for granted– people outside our comfort zone
Ask Questions
• Tell me more.• How do you know that is true?• What is most important to you?• What are you doing next?• What is the other side?• Don’t get angry; get interested.
Play the Wild Card
• Most people connected to +250.• Most people change:
– college majors– jobs– careers– addresses
Don’t Make Assumptions
• People connect in unlikely ways.
• Ask the next ten people.
• Ask the unlikely person.
• Ask the person you tried before.
• Ask a different way.
The Core Exercises
• Getting Started.
• Partnering.
• Weavers: the next step.
• Written Exercise: Needs and Offers.
• Listening.
• Who do we leave out?
• The Wild Card.
Getting Started
• Open space: see and hear each other.
• Chairs and places to write.
• Paper and pens.
• Business cards.
• Sound system?
• Helpers when group is large.
Partnering
• Main exercise:
– raise your hand.
– find a partner.
– be useful to each other.
– you have five minutes.
– switch!
Weavers: The Next Step
• Weaver see patterns.
• Weavers make connections.
• Network for others.
• Librarians versus weavers.
Written Exercise
• Don’t Be Boring: Needs and Offers
• Two columns: +ten items.
• Be specific: Not just money.
• Be tangible: Not just friendship.
• The Kitten Rule.
• Personal and professional.
Using the Lists
• Which was harder?
• Things to offer: Overlooks obvious.
• Things needed: Self-sufficient.
• Things are currency for exchange.
• Try partnering with lists.
• Practice yourself.
Listening
• Conversations: Contests to win?
• Taking turns.
• Pausing and silences.
• Passing the ball.
• Being in the present moment.
Who Do We Leave Out?
• Use lists of types of networks.
• Which categories of people:
– do we forget?
– do we leave out on purpose?
– do we reject outright?
Types of “Others”
• Age: more or less than 15-20 years.
• Socioeconomic status.
• Philosophical differences.
• Bad history.
• Poor communication skills.
• Strangers.
The Wild Card
• Likely someone else knows:
– has advice
– has a link
– has a personal connection
– has an interesting guess• Works mostly, not always.
Typical Problems
• Trusting the process.
• Some will struggle: that is okay.
• Some will dominate.
• Group harder to control: congrats!
• Collecting stories.
Questions?