By Shubhi Jain
AWIS began 2020 with a bang. In a nicely laid out conference room with a delicious dinner, curious professionals and students alike gathered together for a two-hour session. They gathered to learn networking techniques and people skills from Melissa Goldberg, a Public Speaking and Management Communication Skills Coach at her own company, Speech Capital, LLC. To address the concerns most relevant to our attendees, she began with a brainstorming session of all the topics that the attendees wanted to learn about. Participants asked how to have more engaging conversations, how to build confidence, how to join group conversations, and how to follow up with interesting professionals. Melissa began with confidence.
According to Goldberg, one of the key “tools” is open body language. But that is only the beginning. Once you make yourself approachable, you have to own your story. For scientists, that means being able to respond effectively to the question, “What do you do?” It may sound easy, but explaining our technical work can be difficult, with all the scientific terms, acronyms, and other professional language. To get in the right mindset for speaking with simplicity, Goldberg advised imagining that you are telling your grandmother what you do and why it matters. By keeping things simple, we make it easier for others to understand, to ask questions and to continue the conversation. We practiced introducing ourselves to each other and sharing what we do, partnering and learning how to engage new people as we moved through the room. In a similar manner, Melissa addressed our other questions, and we practiced the skills to become better at connecting with each other and with the people we may sometimes feel intimidated by.
It’s important to realize that the people we are conversing with want to talk and listen to us. Goldberg encouraged us to be patient with ourselves, to come from a place of warmth, and to remind ourselves of the value we bring to the conversation. It’s a process, and it is okay to stumble. People often forget the details of what you talked about, but they remember how you made them feel. When you’re feeling complete and ready to move on to the next conversation, Goldberg suggested that you ask what their goal is at this event or who they’re looking to meet, so that you might connect them to relevant people. Feel free to share your own ask, and thank them for a lovely conversation. Networking helps us create better opportunities for ourselves-- and for the people we help and the teams we join. To be most effective, keep in touch, and pay it forward!
AWIS began 2020 with a bang. In a nicely laid out conference room with a delicious dinner, curious professionals and students alike gathered together for a two-hour session. They gathered to learn networking techniques and people skills from Melissa Goldberg, a Public Speaking and Management Communication Skills Coach at her own company, Speech Capital, LLC. To address the concerns most relevant to our attendees, she began with a brainstorming session of all the topics that the attendees wanted to learn about. Participants asked how to have more engaging conversations, how to build confidence, how to join group conversations, and how to follow up with interesting professionals. Melissa began with confidence.
According to Goldberg, one of the key “tools” is open body language. But that is only the beginning. Once you make yourself approachable, you have to own your story. For scientists, that means being able to respond effectively to the question, “What do you do?” It may sound easy, but explaining our technical work can be difficult, with all the scientific terms, acronyms, and other professional language. To get in the right mindset for speaking with simplicity, Goldberg advised imagining that you are telling your grandmother what you do and why it matters. By keeping things simple, we make it easier for others to understand, to ask questions and to continue the conversation. We practiced introducing ourselves to each other and sharing what we do, partnering and learning how to engage new people as we moved through the room. In a similar manner, Melissa addressed our other questions, and we practiced the skills to become better at connecting with each other and with the people we may sometimes feel intimidated by.
It’s important to realize that the people we are conversing with want to talk and listen to us. Goldberg encouraged us to be patient with ourselves, to come from a place of warmth, and to remind ourselves of the value we bring to the conversation. It’s a process, and it is okay to stumble. People often forget the details of what you talked about, but they remember how you made them feel. When you’re feeling complete and ready to move on to the next conversation, Goldberg suggested that you ask what their goal is at this event or who they’re looking to meet, so that you might connect them to relevant people. Feel free to share your own ask, and thank them for a lovely conversation. Networking helps us create better opportunities for ourselves-- and for the people we help and the teams we join. To be most effective, keep in touch, and pay it forward!