Welcome to our fourth installment in the series of articles dedicated to getting ready for Promised Land Art Festival. Today, we’d like to talk about an extremely important part of the event that you’ll probably be doing a lot of: networking!
With so many amazing artists and creatives roaming the halls and premises of EC1 Łódź during the festival, you’re bound to run into someone you’ll want to connect with, whether it’s to talk shop or review each others works (which we already covered in our previous article, so check it out if you haven’t already!). Over the course of PLAF’s three days you’ll also be attending workshops, talks, demos, life drawing sessions, and more, and it’s important to show proper respect and manage your image throughout these as a participant. So today’s tips and tricks, compiled with the help of our friend and creative industry professional, Spiridon Giannakis, are all about networking done right.
NAMES. ARE. IMPORTANT.
Networking can be overwhelming — there’s so many wonderful people to meet! Remembering all the names, with some of them being difficult for us to pronounce, can be a challenge. Luckily, there are techniques that can help with this. A simple trick to remember someone's name is to repeat it to have it confirmed. That way, it will be much easier for you to permanently put a name to the face! There’s also no shame in making more than just a mental note; you can also ask for a selfie with the person and potentially add the name to your phone, as a note, or take a picture of their business card right after.
Leave more than an impression
Nowadays, connecting with someone can be as simple as exchanging contact details — your social media handle, blog, or email, etc. It’s worth going the extra mile, though, and showing some ingenuity in the process. That’s why you should make sure not to show up empty-handed — bring a business card, sticker, or something completely out of the box, whatever works best for you, to share with the people you’ll want to get in touch with. Even if you’re not planning on giving anything away, you very well might receive something and it would be great to give something back and seize the opportunity.
Read the room
If you’re unsure whether a particular moment is the right moment to approach someone, it might very well be the wrong moment. In case you’re going to go for it anyway, try to be mindful of the state a person might be in at this time. If you see they’re tired, you could ask them if, for example, they’d like something to drink. Giving something back for their time and effort would be a nice thing to do, especially if it’s someone you’d like to look at your work and get feedback from — or someone who’s just finished giving a long talk.
Respect other people's time
Empathize with other attendees. If someone is having a moment with another person, especially if said person is a speaker that has a limited amount of time, don’t interrupt them! Imagine how it would make you feel if someone interrupted a private, meaningful conversation without even asking permission to join in. Promised Land Art Festival is not a sprint — it’s a three-day-long marathon, and you’ll surely find an opportunity to speak with them later on. If you want to make sure you don’t miss them, try sending them a message if you have their contact details (for example, if they left their email or handle at the end of their talk) or reach out via the official Promised Land Art Festival 2024 app (more info on that one is coming soon!).
Respect the work of speakers
Try to avoid doing anything particularly distracting during the activities. Have a runny nose and feel an urge to sneeze? Try to keep it in and leave the room before blowing into a hanky. Feeling sleepy after the day before? Don’t loudly yawn loudly — that’s just rude! Most importantly — make sure to turn off the sound on your phone/watch/tablet, and whatever you do, don’t chat and giggle with others during a talk. Imagine how the speaker might feel in front of an audience like that. They mustered up all that strength to walk out on stage and present something they’re proud of, and behavior like that might lead them to think they did something wrong, affecting their entire performance on stage, and possibly their confidence to get upon stage again in future
Respect yourself
Remember that, in the end, the way we behave always reflects on us. Conduct yourself in a way that you can feel proud of during and after the event. If you know you might lose a bit of control in a certain situation — whether it’s a heated debate about a work related subject or afterparty fever — try treating that moment professionally and seize the opportunities that come your way instead of potentially self-sabotaging your career.
We hope you’ll find these useful when Promised Land Art Festival comes along in less than a month’s time. If you have any other tips and tricks for networking at events worth keeping in mind, share them with other PLAF attendees in the comments section of the posts linking to this article! As for us, we’ll be back with yet another PLAF ATTENDEE 101 article very soon — after all, it won’t be much longer before we kick things off in EC1 Łódź!
