Recently Will DeKrey, senior associate at Community Wealth Ventures, Inc., shared with us his experience at the NGen Speed Networking event in Atlanta last year. This year, the NGen pre-conference program will take place October 29-30 just prior to the IS Annual Conference in Chicago.

Have you ever tried to explain to your grandma that you’re the grants administrator for a private non-operating foundation or that you’re the new media specialist for a community-based economic justice organization? Did it result in a blank stare and then a demand that you stop all the mail from nonprofits asking for money?

That’s exactly what happened when I sat down to tell Grandma DeKrey that I had left home to become an associate at a management consulting firm with a focus on building solutions around sustainability and growth for nonprofits and foundations. A slight blow to my self-assurance and career confidence.

Perhaps that doesn’t bother you? Perhaps you’re proud that your job doesn’t fit the into the cookie-cutter career ladder of corporate America? 

Either way, your ability to tell your personal story, explain the nature of your work, and win over fellow human beings to your cause matters a great deal. It matters today and it will matter as long as you aspire to create positive change in the world.

Because, for better or worse, we work in a sector where major decisions are driven by networks and relationships. So how do you build a compelling approach to talking about what you do and building those prized networks and relationships?

Two Options

1. Spend a year, holed up, reading research reports about effective messaging, how to craft the killer elevator speech and the latest opinion polls. Write the perfect story. Memorize your story. Deliver the exact same story every time. Get confused when the people who used to give you blank stares now cry tears of boredom.

OR

2. Grab a seat at NGen’s Speed Networking and engage in some rollicking rapid prototyping. Try your story one way. See if it works. No? Try it another way. See if it resonates. Tweak. Adjust. Practice. Practice. Practice. It might look something like this:

Bzzzz. SWITCH! Up. Left. Sit. Hi. Shake. I’m Will. Smile. It’s so nice to meet you. Ice-breaker question. Laugh. Yeah! Okay. Tell me more. Makes me think about x. Me? Sure thing! I work at Community Wealth Ventures. Explanation-version-2.6-beta. Follow-up clarification. Quick story. Yeah, let’s do it. Pass card. Bzzzz. Ahhh, can’t believe we’re out of time. SWITCH! Up. Left. Sit. Hi. Shake. I’m Will. Smile… x20.

NGen Speed Networking is one of the best possible environments in which to hone your story and to MiracleGro your networking muscles. It’s low-risk, vibrant and inspiring.

The Best Part

You can bat 50 percent at making successful connections and still leave the event with a host of folks you’ll continue to get to know throughout the rest of the IS conference. One of them might even end up as CEO of the Gates Foundation some day. You’ll be happy you welcomed that person into your network.

And when you run into Jeff Raikes in the hallway directly after NGen Speed Networking, you’ll be ready to share your story and start a new friendship. You’ll be happy you built that relationship.

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll be about to win over grandma.

-Will DeKrey

Register today for the NGen Pre-conference Program.