Will Kintish Networking Session - Sheffield International Leadership Academy by Lucas

Frozen before the giant wooden doors that bear the threshold into the jungle of business professionals, your mind goes into overdrive. What awaits you beyond these two wooden barriers? Rejection? Ridicule? Or opportunities?

You can hear the crowds loudly chattering within, but your heart’s thumping overpowers the ambiance.

You prepare to step forward, but a psychological ball and chain weighed your legs onto the luxurious carpets below.

You assure yourself that you’ve prepared for the worst. Your feel your heart beating underneath the tag that says “Hello, my name is…” sweat breaks from your forehead, and you grip your fingers to a tight fist. Taking a gulp, you say to yourself before stepping into the hall, ‘It’s time to do some networking’.

The word “networking”, when presented in any form brings with it an unfathomable aura of terror to every student, why?

According to Will Kintish, renowned professional business networking trainer, it’s all in your head!

“Networking, at its very basic, is simply the act of building relationships with people. The fact is, we’ve been doing it ever since we’re young children”, Will said to 20 of the University’s aspiring engineering undergraduates.

He was hosted by the Sheffield Engineering Leadership Academy (SELA) to speak to its 2016 cohort on the 15th of February at Inox Dine.

Will spent the early parts of his life as an accountant and a trainer for Dale Carnegie training. Since 2000 he has delivered networking and presentation training courses on from his own consultancy. His experience in the field was evident during the session, with a well-rounded approach in the course (including talks, demonstrations and even an interactive cocktail simulation!) and charming charisma, he broke down and delivered an impressionable course on the essentials of business networking.

Being featured in the session was the renowned Kintish Networking Process, an 8-step process that covered stages of preparing of accepting invitations, building relationships and following up with possible clients. Within a mere 3 hour session, Will concisely presented and justified the various strategies around the Kintish Networking Process to successfully approach attendees, unlock new business opportunities and secure clients through networking events.

Being a networking novice myself, many of the advice that he presented were delightfully intriguing. A few of my personal favourites include

“Opportunities will most likely be identified in the early parts of or after the networking event”

“The most interesting topic that a person can talk about is him/herself”

Of course, there were many moments where I instinctively cringed on the many past slip-ups that I’ve had in past networking events.

As the session came to a close, we can be assured that through Will, every SELA student that walked out the conference room door was transformed into more confident and skilled networkers. With the ecstatic news that he may return in the next year, I look forward to having a recap session of this enlightening and superbly delivered course.