Holiday Networking Ideas: Simple and Quick

For those of you who have ever spent more than an hour with me in your lifetime, you know that two of my passions are Christmas and Connecting. The joy I receive from the twinkling lights, snow, beautiful childhood songs echoing through the streets (or my apartment), and gorgeously wrapped gifts I have realized is so similar to the thrill I feel when I meet someone and find a connection- even the smallest little thing. You are a Wellesley woman? You can’t go a day without coffee either? You used to live in my neighborhood-Don’t you love Washington Heights? You have cats you adore also? You are from Upstate NY-no way?! And the list goes on!

During this holiday season, there is so much encouragement to spread hope and good cheer. I encourage that wholeheartedly myself. However, for many the holiday season also comes with a tremendous amount of pressure- both in terms of time and financial expectations. The challenge is that it is also the perfect time to be connecting and spreading that cheer to people you will want to build deeper relationships with next year and beyond.

You might think, “Bryn, it is difficult enough to finish all the holiday shopping, attend all (or at least some) of the parties, and decorate for the holidays. I have no time or energy left to connect with MORE people”.

No worries! Below I have offered a few ideas to help you leverage both your limited hours in the day and your drained bank account during this festive season.

My brainstorming session on this topic began with several assumptions:

1. You need rich and prosperous connections to build your career, associations or volunteer activities next year.
2. At this moment, you estimate that you have less than 2 hours to focus on this connection activity before January 1.
3. It better not cost a fortune because you are “all in” this holiday season!

Strategy, it all begins with Strategy! Not the kind that requires an entire career networking plan (but note to self: if you do not have one of those, you might consider building one)

What I am suggesting here is a 10 minute exercise: Clear your mind. Put yourself in a quiet spot where there is little chance of interruption for 10 minutes. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and take the following steps:

– Reflect on your year- big moments of elation, tough challenges, and lessons learned then write the 4 people’s names that come to mind in reaction to that reflection

– Think about what the first few months of the new year will look like for your life, career, community activity, etc. and write down the first 4 names that pop in your head in association with that image of next year.

– Write the 2 people that nag at you in the back of your mind. They seem to always be on your “to do” list. Maybe you promised you would call/write/lunch but never did. Maybe you met the person and thought, “I really want to spend more time with this person and now it just seems embarrassing how much time has elapsed.”

THERE- you have 10 names! That wasn’t hard was it? Any repeats? You can consolidate the list of course and now you have less than 10. But no more than 10 here please. You do not get extra “connection points” for making a long list that will be too long to tackle and ultimately end in defeat.

Beside each of those names, write the action that you plan to take to reconnect. Remember, we want to keep this simple, but also stand out in the crowd.

Even with dear friends or former colleagues who might be waiting to hear from you, at this time of year being a bit original will only help you to make the quality connection for which you are aiming. Therefore, I would personally suggest that you stay away from emails and ecards. Inboxes are flooded this time of year with offers, end of year issues, and those very same emails and ecards that I am suggesting you avoid.

Let’s think creatively here-but still adhere to the last two principles of this exercise: not time consuming or expensive. Here are a few suggestions of mine. Hopefully, they will prompt a few of your own that are specifically linked to your community, your industry or area of the world.

Make a minimal donation in their name. Do you know that they have a certain passion, charity, or do a tremendous amount of volunteer work at a certain organization? The organization will be thrilled with any $10 or $15 donation they receive and you can often request a card or an acknowledgement email to be sent to the person you are honoring with the donation. I love when people have done this for me-rather than bringing me a small gift I may not need or food I do not eat. You get the picture. Very personal and all about them and their interests. Completely “in service” to them.

Send a New Year’s Card. Really. These work brilliantly. First of all, they are nondenominational (Happy Holidays or blank cards work great for this). Plus, the holidays are winding down. You have time to write the card and it will be received when their mailbox has been cleared of holiday cards, catalogs and gifts. The card should include three components: A wish for Happy New Year – a line about the connection you have made in the past (great volunteering with you at the PTA meeting-who knew we had so much in common)– and a line about the connection you hope to make in the new year (I will give you a call later in January when things have calmed down and we can schedule a time for lunch) Be certain that whatever you add here is reasonable for you. This is your chance to offer next steps that will be followed through with and it is up to you and only you to make that happen. So do not over-promise.

Create a Social Media Call-out. For those of you who love social media like I do, this will be a fun and effective way to connect- but only if two factors exist.   1. You love love love social media (because this connection activity should not be a chore)   2. The person you are targeting ALSO loves social media (maybe you even met them there!)

Here are a few ideas:

Twitter: Create a tweet that talks about them. Use their handle of course. Talk about a special offering they have if they run a business (providing them with a little publicity) Talk about the impact they have made in your life/career. And then- tweet it at least twice over the course of a few days so it will get more exposure.

Facebook: Dedicate your status to them with the same premise as Twitter. Write about their impact, the special project they are working on, their website, the contributions they made to the community, etc.

LinkedIn: You can dedicate your status here also-and even link it to your twitter account with an easy LinkedIn function. Also, LinkedIn is a great place to show your appreciation with an unsolicited recommendation! It does not have to be lengthy. Maybe a paragraph or two but the impact will last throughout the year.

Instagram: Tag them in a photo that brings back great memories of a time you spent together or experience you shared. Like one or more of their photos and COMMENT to provide a little insight about the person you know to all of their followers.

Have fun connecting and reconnecting with these people. Taking action on less than 10 people before the beginning of the year (10 minutes on each one is all!) and reap the benefits throughout all of the new year. I am now off to do this exercise myself.

Happy Holidays to your and your loved ones!