1. „I don’t belong here.“
2. „I’m not meeting anyone interesting here.“
3. „I don’t know what to do here.“
4. „I’m not getting anything out of this, professionally or personally.“
1. Very often the first contact with a network is like the first contact with a foreign culture. Be careful if you are somewhere else where you feel a little out of place. Good organisations manage to make every participant feel that he (or she) „belongs“ despite cultural differences.
2. Good networks succeed in getting their members or guests interested in each other or in stimulating communication in such a way that not only small talks, i.e. superficial discussions take place. Because if you go into depth, there is something interesting about almost everyone.
3. Good networks introduce guests to the respective group culture and help them to actively „integrate“.
4. We all have wishes and goals. The integration into networks should help us to achieve these wishes and goals more easily and quickly. Good networks manage to convey to their members and guests that working on relationships is a very, very long-term thing, a decade project without guarantees.
Even as a host of events you should start to think further: Do not simply assume that it is enough to fill a room with people, place them at a buffet and book a lecture. A heated room, a few seats and free alcohol were enough when we were teenagers. Today we expect a little more.
