Networking with a Twist

I attended the AWMC’s Speed Networking event on Thursday, November 29 at 6:30pm in the Grupp Fireside Lounge. This was unlike any networking event I have ever been to. Usually, there is a room full of people and you have to go up to them and start a conversation. However, in this one, there were tables in a “U” formation and all the professionals sat down at these tables. The professionals were, for the most part, Communication Studies or Digital Media Arts alumni from Canisius and they were mostly involved in the marketing world. We were paired with one other person of our choosing, so Julia Dressler and I went together. At every table, we had three minutes to talk to the professional and then we had to move to the right to go to the next table. I think it could have been stretched to maybe 3 minutes and 30 seconds because there were some people who went over the time limit and we would have to wait or we were still conversing and were cut off. There were three professionals that I was really happy that I talked with. Two were from Pegula Sports and Entertainment and my sister’s dream is to get a job with the Bills or Sabres. I told the representatives from there exactly that and they gave me their contact information for both my sister and me. I also really enjoyed speaking with a woman in Human Resources who talked about employee engagement and the like and it reminded me of Informational Interview is Adam Lai in Human Resources at Roswell Park. I got all of their business cards and I also received the email from the one professional who did not have business cards. All the professionals were very sweet and gave me great advice. I made some rounds to thank some of the professionals after the speed networking part was done. Next week, I will probably send some thank you emails as well. The event lasted about an hour and a half altogether. I really liked this event, because there was some structure to it. In a way, you were forced to talk to everyone instead of wandering around, trying to build up the nerve to start a conversation with someone. All in all, it was a great experience!