10 tips to help you expand your PR network

Fri, Aug 12, 2011

HAPPO

Thursday night here in Minneapolis one of my favorite events of the year took place: The Alphabet Bash. It’s one gigantic networking party with folks from PRSA, IABC, AdFed, MIMA and a host of other professional organizations here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It’s the one time of year when I reconnect with a lot of my PR colleagues around town. I love it.

This year, I had the honor and privilege of presenting at the pre-event networking seminar. My topic: How to network like a Rock Star. OK, I know, lame title. But, some of the advice I provided weren’t your “garden-variety” tips. Here’s the presentation (in Prezi). I plan to blow a few of these key points into larger posts in the weeks ahead. For now, I’d love your feedback on the presentation below.

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invpartnership 5 pts

Just as JohnNemoPR mentioned: very slick. A great reminder that networking is not a dirty word, in fact we all do it naturally anyway. We carry the 'rock star' theme with our latest book on building your own powerful business brand (The Invisible Branson). So, I don't think it's a lame title.

Good work putting this together, arikhanson !

Ari Herzog 123 pts

On a side note, Arik, why do you like Prezi so much? I once tried it and couldn't wrap my brain around using it. I do like presentations created with it. Do you find it easy to create?

arikhanson 38 pts moderator

Ari Herzog Because it's not linear--and neither is the way most of us think. And, it forces you to think it visuals. With this Prezi, I had to list out most of the text. Most of my other Prezis (the private ones I use with clients) are almost completely visuals-based.

JohnNemoPR 7 pts

First off I love "Prezi" and how slick it is. Way better than a boring PowerPoint. arikhanson you keep raising the bar!

For me creating a dynamic personal blog, video resume and working LinkedIn nonstop are huge components. Also blogging about places where you'd like to work is brilliant - I did that once and ended up getting offered a PR job as a result, even though they'd never heard of me before that.

I think one specific tip is to use your connections on LinkedIn to get recommendations. People don't take advantage of that feature enough. I see people with 500+ connections and 1 recommendation. Potential employers LOVE seeing thoughtful, detailed recommendations on LinkedIn from peers/industry experts/former employers. It's a reference check on steroids!

Also I've learned quickly that Arik is right - Networking is more important than anything else. Period. Lastly, Arik's favorite read is "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi, and I'm tearing through it right now. The biggest tip so far is that truly great networking means I don't keep score. Instead, I go into it seeing what I can offer the other person instead of the other way around. A real 180-degree shift from what I typically used to think networking was for (i.e. what can you do for me?).

Conversation from Twitter

alibrausen
alibrausen

arikhanson Thank you for posting. I missed the event last night.

StacieSuedkamp
StacieSuedkamp

arikhanson Thank you for sharing with us last night. Great talks, good tips, fabulous night.

Trackbacks

  1. [...] Last week I attended my first Alphabet Bash if you have never been I highly recommend it. I met some great people, ate some good food and most importantly got some great tips at the pre-networking event from Arik Hanson. As someone who is new to networking his presentation on “How to Network Like a Rock Star” was extremely helpful. I have been putting into action some of the things he suggested and will be checking out his blog often for more. If you were unable to attend the eventĀ  he was nice enough to post the tips he shared on his blog here: http://www.arikhanson.com/2011/08/12/10-tips-to-help-you-expand-your-pr-network/ [...]

  2. [...] first recommendation is to read Arik Hanson’s blog post about networking. The prezo is below, but you can also check out his blog for more [...]