I am going to be speaking and attending Blog World LA next week. In anticipation of that event I am going to be talking to myself this week. I want to remind myself of why I am going and what I hope to accomplish while I am there. Hopefully what I say to myself will resonate with others who are going to this, or any, conference.
It’s such a well understood idea that it is a cliche: You must cultivate relationships in networking to get ahead. I agree with it, as far as it goes. The problem is it doesn’t go far enough. It is not enough to collect contacts like so many vegetables at harvest time. For me to feel and be successful at networking I want to transform my private garden into a community teaching garden.
I have many areas where I need the expertise of other gardeners in the blogosphere. Wordpress, database development, monetizing, you name it, I need help with it. But I also have some expertise as well; art, design, writing, content creation, If I want my fellow blog gardeners to help me in my areas of need then I need to be willing to help them in theirs.
But wait, isn’t that what I am doing by speaking there? Yes, it is what I am doing and I am very hopeful my session, Six Stop Signs on Creativity Road (Friday 4 pm) will be of great benefit to many. But my session is going to last an hour. With people talking to me after (if I am lucky), maybe another 45 minutes. The conference lasts 3 days. Am I going to single-mindedly pursue harvesting from other people’s garden during the other 70 hours or am I going to set in my mind that I am in a community garden where I will look for opportunities to plant encouragement, motivation, inspiration, knowledge and friendship in at least equal portion to what I harvest for myself?
I like a community garden.
Marty, The Napkin Dad
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Thanks Becky, I am excited to see you again in LA as well!
Charlie, You are so right, it is a different process. But in some ways it’s how we define the relationship in our head to start with that makes the difference. I try to make the choice to treat those I meet online as if I have met them in person. I don’t know them completely, but I wouldn’t know them completely if I met them for 5 minutes after a break out session or a group lunch either. When my best self is operating on all cylinders I call them my friends and I treat them as such. I care about them, I ask about them and I hope good things for them. If I see a photo of them with spinach in their teeth I will tell them, just as I would in person. LOL
I like this Marty – and I know we have all the social media in the world to help us with our networking – and this helps enormously… but i do wonder (sometimes) about these new ways and how we will transition them over into something that is “real”. I have had success in the past, so I know it can be done… but it is a far different process… **thinking out loud*
Marty, I love your explanation here, and I’m looking forward to seeing you again in LA!