The Bottom Line: Working the room, finally - How I'm learning to make this generation's version of the cocktail party work for me

摘要

I've attended way too many social gatherings over the years hoping that my networking efforts would eventually put good-paying freight on my trucks. People my age call it "working the room." I could never understand folks who attended cocktail parties but didn't engage. Frankly, I wonder why they even bothered attending. It seemed like such a waste of time. Social media is this generation's cocktail party. Networking sites are a place where like-minded people meet and share ideas. The day I began adding "friends" on Facebook was the day I thought I was on my way to joining the social media party. Fast-forward 12 months and my efforts produced a Facebook page that I look at less than once a month, 490 LinkedIn contacts I still don't know, I follow Bob McKenzie on Twitter, and zero new business. I would have been better off printing brochures and cold calling. It seemed like such a waste of time.