Last Friday I had the privilege of attending the Autumn Idea Market hosted by ESSAE, the Empire State Society of Association Executives. The event is held every year and brings together Association professionals from all over New York State. As always the executives at ESSAE gave us something to write home about.
A captivating session I attended was called, “The Networking Dance: It Takes Two to Tango” presented by Dale Klein of Profitable Speech: A Sound Investment (www.profitablespeech.com). The session started out rather unusual, a bit uncomfortable I must say. The title of the session was no joke; we actually had to pick a partner and tango! I was happy to step outside of my comfort zone and partnered up with my friend from NimbleUser (www.nimbleuser.com), Sig VanDamme. Sig and I weren’t exactly Fred and Ginger, we were actually more like two technology geeks moving our feet in somewhat of a forward motion. As uncomfortable and weird as this seemed, it got me thinking. I knew Sig but I didn’t really “know” Sig. This was a great ice breaker for starting a conversation which turns out was the whole point of the exercise, “The Networking Dance”.
After our un-eurhythmic dance, we partnered up on the second part of the session. This section focused on “learning” about our partner by asking the right questions. We were then tasked with creating a “30 Second Commercial” for our partner based on the information we learned. This “30 Second Commercial” is the amount of time you have to say what you want to say when you first meet someone, especially handy at a networking event. The formula for this commercial (based on Dale Klein) is CMS which means Creative, Memorable, and Succinct. If you incorporate this formula into your 30 second commercial you will say what you want other people to know about you in a powerful and memorable way. So with that said, I created my 30 second commercial for Sig, here goes:
“With over 18 years experience providing Associations and Not-for-Profits technology integrations, NimbleUser has the knowledge and expertise to confront your technical challenges and provide you a solution that maximizes your goals, hi I’m Sig VanDamme.”
What’s your 30 second commercial?
