Working That Net

I've been going to several events as part of the Community Outreach aspect of my job, and I really enjoy it.  While trying to convince random people to volunteer with or donate to Habitat isn't very easy, I've found that talking to the people at the other tables is.  In the past couple of weeks I've met a lot of fabulous individuals from some really excellent organizations.

I guess that you could say that I'm networking, making connections and adding names to my proverbial Rolodex.  The concept of networking is a funny one in my mind.  There's the idea of meeting the people whom it would be advantageous to have a connection with.  And then there's the idea of exchanging business cards with everyone in the room.  I feel as though the latter is pretty prevalent, but it seems pointless to me.  What am I going to do with the card from a person I don't have any connection with and barely remember?

Well, I'd throw it away, but I guess that's not true for everyone.  After all, the concept of Six Degrees of Separation isn't completely made up.  The idea is that we're all just five personal connections away from each other.  And it's not because there are so few people in the world.  It's because of those business card collectors that just seem to know everyone.

I'm not the card collector type.  In fact, it's taking me quite a bit of effort to try to force myself do it a little bit more.  It's not that I don't like talking to people.  We know that's not my issue.  My problem is that I'm looking for more than a phone number and an email address.  I'm looking for a reason to remember you.

Recently I've found a lot of really good reasons.  During these community events I get to hear about all kinds of really great local, national, and international organizations that have amazing missions.  But even better than being introduced to the groups is getting to meet the people who represent them.  Because they are people who are working towards a goal, serving their community with a guided purpose.  People who care.  People like me.

And that's pretty exciting.  I understand that working in service isn't for everyone, and I don't expect it to be.  But it is very disheartening to be told that you're making the wrong decision by going into this field, that you're hurting yourself by trying to help others.  Meeting the people at these events lifts me up.  It shows me that I have made the right choice.  That there are other people just like me who love the thrill of helping another human.  And that I should keep at it.

So that's how I network.  I exchange cards with the people that I want to talk to, the ones who are on my path, that have accomplished a piece of what I'm looking for.  That might come back to bite me if my yard develops a bamboo overgrowth problem, since I threw away the card from that guy who would not stop talking about the building potential of bamboo.  But for now I'm content with my collection of cards from cool folks doing their part to be the change.