How To Network If You Suck At- GameCareerGuide.com. If you're anything like me, when you hear the word networking, you're already out the door.
Yes, it's important and one of the best ways to meet other developers, potential investors and fans, but it's not something that comes naturally to most people. For some, the thought of talking to strangers might be a terrifying thought. For others, it might just seem insincere to network with people only for potential benefits. In the end, many of us end up shrugging our shoulders and say, ‘I just suck at networking' and pretty much avoid it at all costs.
However, going down that route can lead to tons of missed opportunities. How Not to Be a Networking Leech: Tips for Seeking Professional Advice. Photo Businesspeople generally think of networking as a mutually beneficial meeting for both parties.
But that’s not usually what it is. Far more often, it is one person asking the other for a favor. I have been a management consultant, business owner and speaker for more than 12 years. Before that, I was a business executive and a trial lawyer. During the course of a year I receive numerous requests from people I do not know, asking me to network. 10 Tips For A Powerful Elevator Speech. The Smartest Ways to Network at a Party.
Some people enter a room of strangers and glide along from one lively conversation to another, uncovering golden new business contacts.
How do they do it? These people know how to read a room—a capacity that can be partly inborn, but also learned. From the barrage of sights, sounds and behavioral details, they extract clues about which people have the most to offer and which to avoid. That energetic guy with the 1,000-watt smile, booming voice, ready handshake and a fistful of other people’s business cards might seem like fun, for example. But he’s moving too fast to connect with people in a meaningful way and is probably just trying to bag clients. “You meet somebody at a business function, and five minutes later they’re slapping you on the back and calling you by a nickname, ‘Yo, Vic!’
The cues to finding allies in a crowded room aren’t obvious. Participants in groups that are welcoming often make eye contact as a newcomer approaches, raise their brows in a welcoming way and smile. Ms. Gameconfs. CompoHub - Find game jams. Find your people. How to Target the Right Gigs for You - Video Game Music Academy. In this post, I’ll discuss how any freelancer can define their ideal client/project – and why it’s important.
When you’re trying to establish yourself within an industry, it’s very tempting to take any opportunity that comes your way. Gaining experience can be critical to building out your early portfolio, and the bills don’t pay themselves! Having said all that, it’s important to keep a clear idea of the kinds of projects you’d like to work on and who you’d like to work with.
One of the best ways to do that is by developing a customer persona or avatar to help focus your efforts. I’ve heard both terms used, but I prefer persona so we’ll use that one for sake of this post. A customer persona is a fictional description of your ideal client, which contains details about who that person is, what their concerns and needs are, and where they spend their time. 10TipsForGameAudioGDC2015-SchoolOfVideoGameAudio.pdf. Game Industry Networking: Part 1 - How to introduce yourself — Akash Thakkar - Composer/Sound Designer. This month, we're going to start the first in our game audio networking series with a simple topic: how to introduce yourself at networking events.
Let me ask you: the last time you were at an event and someone asked "So, what do you do? " how did you respond? Did your booming voice shake this stranger to their very core, or did you stammer out a response that left your conversation partner looking at her watch? We have introduced ourselves to people thousands of times, but few among us takes the time to get any better at this crucial aspect of meeting people. Most of us never realize that getting good results from our networking efforts is a skill, not some in-born talent. Effective Networking in the Game Industry. Ask The Headhunter: Networking for People Afraid of Being Obnoxious. Photo by Flickr user Samuel Mann.
Nick Corcodilos started headhunting in Silicon Valley in 1979, and has answered over 30,000 questions from the Ask The Headhunter community over the past decade. In this special Making Sense edition of Ask The Headhunter, Nick shares insider advice and contrarian methods about winning and keeping the right job, on one condition: that you, dear Making Sense reader, send Nick your questions about your personal challenges with job hunting, interviewing, networking, resumes, job boards, or salary negotiations. No guarantees — just a promise to do his best to offer useful advice.
Question: What’s your opinion on networking the way most people seem to practice it? They ask you if you know about any jobs or if you can introduce them to somebody at Company XYZ. Nick Corcodilos: Sadly, people squander many of the good relationships they already have because they don’t stay in touch.