Networking Event

On Thursday January 15, 2009, our business communications class had a networking event where all the students met with all the professors from the Business School at Loyola University and all the participants from the Executive Mentoring Program. We were instructed to dress business casual, as we would be going to the basketball game afterwards, and to meet in the St. Charles room. Our assignment was to work the room until we received 5 business cards from different individuals.

When I first walked into the room I was extremely nervous and was not sure what to do. I asked one of my friends who had already been there how they approached people and they said they just walked over and introduced themselves. I took their advice and walked over to the first woman I saw. Her name was Daphne Main. She explained to me that she is the accounting professor for Loyola Students and that I would more than likely end up taking one of her accounting classes. Next, I introduced myself to Andrew Goodwin and Michelle Huck. They are Executive Mentors and have worked together for quite sometime at an accounting firm named Ernst & Young, however in November Michelle left and joined Bourgeious Bennett. I thought it was quite interesting that they were both Loyola Graduates. Then, I walked over to Brian Gueniot who is now retired and has his own Consulting firm. He is also an Executive Mentor and was there with partner in the Executive Mentor Program. Lastly, I talked to Lee Vorisek, who is also in the Executive Mentor Program and now works for Alta Max LLC. and is the president of the company.

I think during the networking event I kept conversation flowing and was truly interested in what the other was saying. By listening carefully I was able to come up with other questions and learn more about each person. In the future I think something I could improve on is my elevator speech. After saying it a couple times, I realized it was quite shaky and has definite room for improvement. The link I found for a helpful website is 10 Tips for Successful Business Networking http://www.businessknowhow.com/tips/networking.htm. One business professional I would hope to emulate in the future is Susan Arnold, President of Global Business Units for Procter & Gamble. She was listed on Fortune's 2008 50 Most Powerful Women.