This Month's Featured Program:

Working the Room

This highly interactive session simulates a Chamber Social and prepares your team for any social setting with confidence and skills:

-Planning for new opportunities (What to bring and how to dress)
-Open ended questions to initiate conversation
-How to deal with awkward moments and rejection
-Follow up strategies with professionalism

Lynn designs programs specific to her client’s needs. She has developed 300 modules over her last 15 years as a training consultant. Modules can be combined or added to any program to create the ideal session for your company. 

Feature Article

8 Questions to Enhance Your Next Social Gathering

• When you attend a social gathering do you go with a plan in mind?

• Have you prepared?

• Have you brought your business cards along with a pen and paper to capture notes and ideas?

• Have you dressed for the occasion?

• Is your cell phone off?

One must think of a social gathering as a true opportunity to put their best foot forward. This means dressing professionally, being prepared, and bringing your very best attitude with you. To many people a social gathering can be daunting and scary. They tend to walk in with head down and go directly to the bar or refreshment table. With just a little preparation one can enter a social gathering almost as if it was designed with them in mind.

Here are a few tips that will help you with both comfort and the acceptance from others. Remember listening is an art! The better you are at asking open ended questions and then “zipping it” and being a good listener the better you will be received. Simply put, people love to talk about themselves. Hence the eight magical questions.

• Tell me a little bit about your business and or… yourself.

• How did you get started in your business or area of expertise?

• What made you choose _________ ?

• Who is your perfect customer and why?

• What are you most proud of about your business?

• Do you offer any competitive advantages from your business?

• How might I help you in your business?

• May I stay in touch?

Think of attending a social function as if it were an interview with you doing the hiring. Your goal should be to obtain as much information about them and share much less about you.

You essentially wait until you are asked. Your questions should never sound like a drill which is where the importance of listening and timing comes in. You want to listen with body language which might include nodding your head, leaning forward and demonstrating your genuine interest in what they have to say. Be careful not to interrupt.

Sometimes we get so excited with what we want to say or are agreeing with the point they are making that we jump in to interject. A good listener waits until there is an opportunity to do so.

Make direct but not invasive eye contact and smile while communicating. All of this says that you are a real person and interested in them.

It is important for you to see yourself as your listener does. This means “checking yourself out” in the mirror. Make sure you are well groomed, presentable and ready for the opportunity.

Project confidence and sincerity. A confident person enters a room with good posture, a pleasant expression on their face and a welcoming smile. They offer a professional handshake and essentially initiate the conversation as opposed to waiting for someone to approach them. All of this says that you feel good about yourself and are eager to meet others.

Consider this… everyday is an interview day. As mentioned earlier when you take on the mindset of an interviewer, others are doing the same with you. They are forming an opinion and making an evaluation of you just as you are with them.

So with all of this said, try and find as many networking opportunities as possible. The more opportunities you create for yourself the better your return.

Preparing for a Social Opportunity

• Take ownership. What preparation are you willing to do prior to going and what factors are you willing to accept about yourself? Preparation is essential in many respects.

• Optimism. Visualize the success in meeting new people. Expect them to like you and have a genuine desire to like them as well. These actions will create positive results.

• Determination. Is there a plan in mind to overcome any challenges or obstacles that you might face at this gathering. The more you’re prepared and practiced in advance along with utilizing the questions suggested above, the better your results will be.

• Flexibility. Consider multiple approaches based on circumstances and the individuals you are meeting. Remember when you ask versus tell it gives you every opportunity to react with style and grace to the opportunity.

• Gratitude. Be sure to express your gratitude in meeting someone and recognize that a social gathering is an opportunity to further enhance your business position and yourself.  

Lynn Giuliani

get your our own custom program

Contact Lynn at 360-319-6776 to schedule your custom designed program.

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