That’s not networking, that’s space hogging

Ah, NOW I remember you.

I met you about two years ago at that networking thing. You stood really close to me, thrust your business card in my hand, and then talked at me for five minutes straight about your business and the work that you do, how yours was the only way to do business and how you were saving the community. Telling us how important your work is. You didn’t ask me my name, or about my business. You weren’t there to listen, you were there to be listened to. It wasn’t about forming relationships, it was about excavating opportunities. And I clearly wasn’t an opportunity for you. Just like that, you moved to the next target. It was all about you.

I didn’t remember your name then because I threw your card away as soon as you walked away. I knew that I would never work with you. The positive is you were a lesson in how not to network.
Now, two years later you’re here and you’re hogging the space. Again. With things that are irrelevant to the purpose of the event. We’re here to learn to make our businesses, our communities and our families stronger. We know all that stuff you’re going on about, we live it too. Every day. But please, tell us more about The Struggles. Make sure we all know you’re the big man in the room. Hog the space and the energy. You don’t seek our permission to speak, you just speak, and you take our time. No you steal our time. Never mind about what we’ve got going on. Never mind what it took for us to turn up. We’re there to learn. You there to be heard.
And again, it’s all about you.

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