Networking for pros who don’t want to network who end up networking.
Asset, Boundary, Narrative Analysis: I’m sick of the traditional networking scene—what’s next?
I haven’t been much of a public speaker in my life. To a fault, I try to speak as little as possible and when i’m not on a ladder with a room staring at me, I spend my energy gathering stories from others.
To lay a baseline, what is “Traditional Networking”
Assets:
- Elevator Pitches
- Business Cards
- Name tags
- Anxiety
Boundaries:
Over saturation of meetups and social clubs with the intent to “thaw the Seattle Freeze.” Already established well-funded professional organizations. No personal funding and only personal philosophy to guide.
The ubiquity of successful chapters of professional organizations perpetuated a culture that served those who adapted to the rigid standards of high charismatic self-promotional business savvy. While many non-creative business owners can adapt to succeed, it’s common to find commercial artists can suffer from an already acute sense of Imposter Syndrome, stifling meaningful connections and preventing opportunities in an industry where Creativity will thrive in spite of fast talking sales pitches.
What defines an individual’s value in networking.
Narrative:
- What we do is offer an immutable service to professionals
- Decades of established expertise define the story for the community as a whole
- Advocacy for the advertising/creative professional—this can include equity on the political level.
advocate for a greater understanding of the value of design and designers in government, business, and media. — AIGA.com/about
Goals:
- Adapt to a different set of goals, inherited but independant
- Draw upon over a century of advocacy for the marginalized
- Not to upend tradition but navigate untraditional needs and augment
- Recognize active support and practice passive support
- Add authenticity and remove profit—for better and worse
Reframing for NOT
Learn what the community wants and doesn’t want — recognizing importance in what you do is equal to what you don’t. The professional community scene has grown so large that there’s a lot to be overwhelmed by. Like much of the internet age and flood of information, it’s a constant race to keep up. For an admittedly niche group—there’s strong value in listening to our personal stories, meaningful connections are made naturally, and collaborations will foster. And we save some business cards from the trash.
Creative Connect Seattle:
New framing
- Selflessly prop up fellow artists
- Offer fellow professionals physical accessibility — that means offices, studios, places where good work happens
- The old adage, “the tide raises all ships,” be The Tide
- No Agenda: We don’t organize speakers or features beyond time and place
- No RSVP: There is never a requirement to even show up
New customer focus
Under novel guidelines
- The anxiety to be on, is missing
- New ideas are shared freely
- Ego is organically absent
- Collaboration is more authentic
- New projects begin, old projects are stronger through selfless peer information sharing, education, training
- Meaningful connections keep everyone working, job referrals are strong and co-working is welcomed
- Healthy competition is encouraged
New why
- Unhealthy competition is toxic to individuals and to the community
- Unnecessary competition is unnecessary—we aren’t CreativeMornings, we don’t want to be. They are so good at what they do.
- The secret of having a team across the city of different disciplines is freeing
- We all struggle sometimes, just reach out for judgement free Creative support. But beyond that, there’s hype or the psychological support one might need to get over a hump
New tools
Difficult to quantify
- Different spaces to meet
- Using free online services to bridge the gap between meetups
- Regular discussion prompts to engage conversation
- Transparency
- Discussion of fellow WIPs keeps everyone aware of fellow talents—when you need a special something, you know who to ask
- Philosophical and Psychological advocacy
This experiment is not a hit list or a gripe-fest. I am not displeased with the effectiveness of traditional Creative communities. From the start, i’ve always felt there was something missing, or more accurately, too much.
The amazing talents that drive us to become Creators can also be a burden. But learning that when you are burdened, that there are options other than burn out, is not usually welcome. Internalizing a strong sense of duty to perform under duress might feel compelling, and obviously, we all have work to do. The important thing is when you work at an office, you can lean on your team—the same should go for when you don’t have that luxury. You always have a team here.
