FEB 17, 2012 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Joint Meeting with Minneapolis #9

Camaraderie and the breath-taking panoramic view from high above the Twin Cities took center stage along with featured speaker Stevie Ray, a nationally recognized comedian and business motivation consultant.

St. Paul Rotarians probably were most disappointed in his opening joke about us when he quipped that someone had said, “They don’t look any different.” 

Well, we pride ourselves in being a tad different, but it was great fun breaking bread with the Minneapolitans.  Several Minneapolis members suggested that we consider not only having an annual anniversary event, but also join together for more social activities. We agreed to pass that along to our Program Committees.

Ray’s humor carried serious messages for business communication. He said research reveals that 90% of business still happens face to face. “Social networking is just for opening doors.”

As for networking events, he said most people are so focused on themselves that they are ineffective. Introductions need to be slow and graceful, but confident.

He then performed networking exercises with those in attendance.  He emphasized that a good introduction is not your job title, but what you do and it should be something that stimulates a follow-up question.  He pointed out how different America is from other nations where we tend to introduce ourselves by giving our job titles while in other countries people discuss more personal aspects of life. It’s not about your job as much as who you are.

If your objective at a networking event is to make contacts, it’s best not to spend the whole time with one person—that’s socializing, not networking.

The best advice for success at a networking event is to go in with specific, attainable goals; e.g., make one new friend, find five business contacts, etc.

Finally, he encouraged us to stop overthinking everything when we meet people. “Watch a child when you drop them off at daycare and they run up to new kids saying, ‘You want to play.’”

Planning is underway for next year’s anniversary party in St. Paul.


Jim Kosmo
Scribe