Reply to is this the right way to improve a young person EQ?

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "is this the right way to improve a young person EQ?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Aren't conference venues a much better place to work on both networking and relationship building (e.g. improving EQ) than what listed above?  At big conferences where there are thousands of people in attendance, the environment is probably the best place to work on those skills, right?[/quote]
I'd say no, because the 19 yr/old hasn't earned their way into the conference.  EQ is built organically and you're looking for your child to skip a few steps.  Focus on the now.[/quote]

What do you mean by “hasn’t earned their way”?

[b]Conferences are the best way to work on EQ.[/b]  People at conferences will not turn down a 19 y/o college student.  I know I wouldn’t.[/quote]

No.  They’re not.  Conferences, especially really big conferences are for the people who are already big in a field to meet and talk.  They’re good for random new people to see what the field has to offer.  The only way a 19yo is getting any networking or eq development out of conferences is of he’s truly brilliant in the field and is able to ask vendors/presenters really interesting and/or hard-hitting questions.  And if he’s that good, attending conferences through academic organizations will still be a better approach because it doesn’t taint him with the whiff of nepotism.

The actual best place to work on people skills is any situation where he’s spending time with a small group of people, the higher stress the better.  Community theatre, any kind of competitive environment like debate team, entrepreneurship competitions, etc. are places where college kids really pick up these useful skills (as well as delivery under pressure).  Additionally, doing normal college activities is ideal for future networking because it means he’ll be able to bond with future peers and seniors by discussing the kinds of experiences they/their kids had.  If you drag him around to these stupid events, you’re putting him in a position where he can’t join in a conversation about frat parties or travelling with friends or cooking in his dorm or the club he was obsessed with like everyone else in the room.[/quote]

Disagree with this.

I was an intern at a professional technology service company in 2006 and  my second week on the internship, a full-time employee in the group, at the last minute, could not attend the week long Cisco technology conference held in Las Vegas that year, so they asked me if I was interested in going and I said yes.  I got to Vegas on Saturday and there was a "get to know everyone" casual drinking event Saturday evening and I went, keeping in mind that I was just an 18 1/2 years old intern.  I met many people there and they asked me what I studied in college, my interests, hobbies, etc... It was a fun evening.  I met a SVP from another company and after talking to him for about 10 minutes about the technology services his company provides, he gave me his business card and asked me to keep in touch with him for future employment opportunities.  One thing I learned from that event was these people love talking about their product, I just need to listen and ask the right question at the right time.

The conference registration began on Sunday with more events to meet people from all tech industries.  I don't remember the exact number but probably at least 3000 people attended the conference.  I got to meet more people at and after the registration, better food and drinks...

On Monday through Thursday, I got to see new products from Cisco and its 3rd party vendors, I got to talk to a lot of people, and made more contacts.  Between 5pm and 8pm M-T, they hosted an event where I got to see many 3rd party vendors, food and drink were provided along with freebies at the event.  I got to talk to many people from across industries from technology, healthcare, financial, government, etc... you named it.  I also made more contacts.  After 8pm, there were party events where I went to meet more people and made even more contacts.

When I got back to my intern job, I started reaching out to about 300 contacts that I made at the conference and I did that throughout my college years.  Six months prior to graduation, I started emailing, calling, and texting them for employment opportunities.  Out of those 300 contacts, about 280 of them ended up in disappointment but 20 of them were positive.  I ended up getting interviews because these folks, at the time, had leverages with the company.  I received ten offers and chose one that worked out really well.  However, I still kept in touch with the rest and I've changed jobs five times since, and all of the offers I got because of those contacts I made at the conference.

EQ is about "knowing people" and conferences are one of the best places to learn and improve it.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics