She’s been involved in the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce, Digital Citizens and the Social Media Club.
Tribe says successful networking doesn’t happen by simply showing up to a couple of networking events. “The easy thing is to sign up for these organisations and expect them to do the networking for you. A large part of networking is participating. It’s the same as chatting and networking online, like on LinkedIn or Twitter. It’s about going in and putting in new content, listening to other people and communicating with them.”
In fact, being a good listener can get you far. “Sometimes being a silent person for a little while is useful. If you can hear everyone else talking to each other, it’s good to sit there for a while, watching how other people interact and make connections. You can learn a lot just by doing that,” she advises.
“I always find it’s best to understand someone’s business and how you can help or how they can help you if you ask basic questions about what they do, why they’re passionate about it.”
According to Tribe, networking events themselves can become new business. In addition to actively communicating with other members at events, look for opportunities where you can step up and offer your skills and expertise.
“If you get close enough to those people organising the event, you’ll find they’ll have a gap. When the Australian Businesswomen’s Network were giving out feedback forms, I told them I’m CEO of a micro-business research network and that I could help them. That continued on to doing something more formal on a longer basis.”
To find out how you can network like a pro, read our feature The Art of Real Networking.