Business networking tips for ladies

Business networking tips for ladies

by Vasinee “Tabbi” Sukumwattanakij

Expat girlfriends and I recently shared an interesting conversation about business networking in Thailand. They admitted that they did not attend many professional networking events and agreed that most of the time, it felt uncomfortable.  

This wasn’t the first time that female friends and colleagues had shared this sentiment. In fact, it is also true for my Thai friends because Thais don’t usually join business networking events, although this is changing. 

I’ve had numerous conversations about how awkward and scary it can feel to attend your first networking event. This is particularly true for women since most business networking events in  Thailand are dominated by men. These conversations prompted me to share some useful tips from my own experiences that will hopefully encourage others to start networking. 

These tips are for my ladies and anyone who finds them helpful. After all, networking is not just about building your connections. It is also about expanding your views by exchanging conversations with people whom are outside of your social and professional circles.

I was quite lucky to be exposed to business networking as a fresh graduate in 2007, which also helped me land my first job interview! Early in my career, I had to network a lot whilst working with EABC (The European Association for Business and Commerce) which is equivalent to the EuroChamber in other countries. This meant that I was constantly joining foreign chambers’ events and trying to get new members to sign up. These days, I join networking events for fun – yes, that’s right. I attend them because it’s fun to connect with people and expand my network.

Therefore, I’d like to share some practical tips to help my fellow women find the courage to join networking events, understand how to make them less intimidating, and to approach them strategically and with confidence.

Some of the reasons that we feel intimidated attending a professional networking event is because… 

You feel lost.

Regardless of gender, most people feel this way, especially at their first networking event. It’s easy to feel lost when you don’t know any one and you don’t know where to start. However, if you look around, you will see that you are not the only one who feels this way.

Tip: Find another lost looking person in the room and introduce yourself. You can also ask the staff at the registration desk to introduce you to a few people  – they usually know the attendees.

Full Story: https://expatlifeinthailand.com/lifestyle/43245/