Anyway, the event came off well, there was a lot of energy among the participants. Although I didn't go to network, I left having met an investment counselor who works with TD Bank, who knew a lot about foundations (a rarity); a PhD candidate from Cleveland's Case Western University... she is working with neurons and considering a career in the biotech industry; an Aussie who has worked practically all over the world and does business restructuring; an executive search consultant who has a strategic purpose in promoting networking and the Jake's House Foundation; and a professional networker, come self-promoter, come teacher/presenter/coach. In short, without trying, I met five people who could help me in some way, and perhaps me... them.
The others at the meeting were having various levels of conversations... clearly they were collecting business cards... that seems to be the badge of success at networking events. But even the Networking Queen clearly communicated on that measure... if you can't add value, through the information you give and receive with the owner of the cards, the card is not a badge of honor... my words.
Actually, the speaker was doing many really cool things to demonstrate that she is very capable of the lingo that is necessary to gain information... open probe, narrow probe, closed probe, if/will statement, move on... she is a likable person, and had I stayed for her whole presentation, I likely would have learned more from her... unfortunately, I walked out!
About 10 minutes into her discussions with the audience, she started on a subject near and dear to my heart... negotiation and sales. Having run sales teams for thirty-five years, in every continent of the globe, I am confident of my knowledge in the areas of negotiation and sales. With absolutely no data, the speaker claimed that Americans were better negotiators than Canadians... no exceptions apparent!
This was such poppycock, and supported by no apparent data, I decided to quickly retrace the first ten minutes of her presentation in my memory bank... again, no data, anywhere. I decided that if she would make such a point of the Canadian/USA negotiation issue, supported with no data, and making a claim that I believe to be patently untrue... the rest was BS as well... so I walked out.
On the way out, I mentioned to Wayne Percy that Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Asians, Indians are all capable of being great negotiators and sales people... if they are trained! It has nothing to do with nationality... it has to do with training, and practice. If the Networking Queen wants to put out data on her techniques, and what results occur with the general population when they are using her techniques, I will gladly come back and listen to her... but for the moment, I believe her positions are Poppy Cock.
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