The Power of Connection – PWN’s Freshest Event

Not only did I make some quality connections at May’s Professional Women’s Network, I got a taste of what it means to always be open to honing a craft, fine tuning a skill and to look to be learning from what I do as my j-o-b. This month at PWN it was all about the Power of Connection: Lean In, Step Up, Make it Work – a chance to address personal constraints we place on ourselves as networkers and connectors.

The facilitators of the conversation, Cynthia Roney and Tracy Theemes, were catalysts for a big, open and honest conversation about everything from body language (we got schooled in handshakes and outward ability to attract conversation in a room full of people, perspectives and purposes), to internal conversations we have with ourselves and their resulting impact on how we connect. We explored professional versus personal relationships and how they live and breathe in the networking world and got into how personal values really drive our perspective on what it means to connect. The cross section of industries and professions represented in the room contributed to some ‘a-ha’ moments, some friendly disagreements/differences in opinion and ultimately space and time for consideration of where we were all at in our practice of connecting and the purpose behind our process.

The best part of the experience was seeing similarities in how relationships are truly at the core of all ‘business’, yet also celebrating the uniqueness of each person in the room and their take on ‘why’ they network and the ‘how’ they get it done. The simplicity of the conversation made it accessible for everyone there and the depth of the sharing created a means for us all to relate to one another – outside of roles, titles and experience. Major take-aways that I am looking at in how they apply to my work were some of the most basic networking and relationship building principles that simply needed to be re-heard, with this group of people, in the context of their professions.

1) At the core of any quality connection, it’s all about an authentic relationship. If you are doubting a relationship, check into the ‘realness’ of what you’ve built with that individual, and make your next move with that in mind.

2) Need to remove a block in your ability to connect with someone at an event? Don’t make it about YOU. Make it about the people in the room and the possibility to be uncovered in each and every conversation.

3) Transparency might just be the best policy. In the ‘authenticity’ conversation lives an honesty piece that can support the quality of the connections you make in one night or as your relationship develops. Whether it’s sharing your clear goals or purpose OR asking someone to be clear and specific with you, you can clear assumptions and get acting faster – together.

This being my first PWN event, I dug in with some of the attendees I was chatting with around their ‘why’ for participating in the monthly events, and a couple themes I heard repeatedly were quality and diversity. Each had a different take on how these two themes showed up – from the quality of the presenters and facilitators to the quality partnerships PWN creates in hosting their events, along with the diversity of participants at each monthly connection to the depth and diversity of topics discussed and how it has elevated their networking game. It is most definitely worth keeping an eye on what the PWN is up to month on month and the conversation they are sharing with Vancouver’s savvy networkers. I know I’ll be back for another dose of getting worked on my networking.