Hello! I am Piper O’Brien and I am a Client Solutions Manager at iSpace. I have been in my role for almost 8 years and on the client side for over 10 years! My career has excelled due to my success in networking and pitching myself and others! I want to go over some tips that will help you achieve your networking goals!
I want to start off by sharing my story of resilience.
As a kid, I had all the odds stacked against me. I was born with severe ADHD and Hip Dysplasia and was labelled both mentally and physically disabled and was put in body brace for the first year of my life. Since a young age, I was told I can’t and won’t be able to do things. In fact, one of the first things the doctors told my parents was that I might never walk and wouldn’t be able to run or play sports.
After repeatedly proving my teachers and doctors wrong, I gained the confidence in myself to trust that I could do whatever I put my mind to. This confidence gave me resilience!
It took me longer than others to learn, read, comprehend things, and even walk but I always achieved it in the end just at my own pace and uniqueness. In high school, I graduated top 10 in my class and lettered in 3 varsity sports as a sophomore. At college at ASU, I graduated in 3 years on Dean’s list with a major and a minor and then took that drive and momentum into my work life!
Here are some tips on how to make a pitch and widen the circle at a networking event.
Before I go to an event, I always set goals for the event. An example of one of my usual goals is to leave with 5 names, in other words meet 5 new people from the event I attend.
Then how do we do that?
Well, some ways to do that and be memorable are:
- Be conversational.
- Use story telling. People relate to stories and remember them.
- Be clear, concise, and compelling.
- Be relatable! If people are interested in what you’re saying, then they want to go on the journey with you.
- Don’t bore people, keep it short and sweet.
Now, the big question is… How do we create a story?
These are the steps I use:
- Exposition – paint picture.
- Describe the problem.
- Resolution – how to solve the problem.
- Then ask why do we do this?
The answer is because stories make us memorable.
Here I am today as a female in tech, working with the largest entertainment companies in the world by providing them unique tech solutions and platforms to resolve their issues and facilitate their growth. Through my networking, I have added 13 new enterprise clients to my portfolio over the last 8 years and provided services both onshore and offshore (globally?) successfully.
Likewise, I was appointed to be a board member in here at Innovate UCLA about 4 years ago and helped launch our Women in Tech sector. I also helped facilitate the largest turn out of events we have had at Innovate.
Two resources that help me build my networking skills are from John Livesay, “The Pitch Whisperer” and “Better Selling Through Storytelling.”
If you are interested in learning more, please join our September WIT event/workshop with Women in Tech Hollywood.