This week I attended one of the best networking events I’ve been to in a very long time.
It was held in North Ryde and there was a wide range of people of all ages and professions.
Sadly, it was a funeral.
The sister of a long time friend of Danita’s (and I hope I have the privilege of including myself as one of their friends) passed away recently with cancer.
Unfortunately, I’d only met Susan once, but based on the comments and number of people present she was clearly a very special lady.
As I was only peripherally connected to the family (the partner of a friend) I tended to keep out of the way once the initial condolences had been said.
After the funeral service people were milling around and even though there was an invitation to a wake/celebration/gathering (what do you call them these days?) at a nearby garden centre no-one seemed inclined to leave the cemetery.
Danita and I, feeling the pressure of work, were about to leave when the movement started and so we decided to drop in for a brief catch-up.
At the gathering I was keeping to myself when Danita introduced me to another ‘fringe-dweller’ (D); the husband of the sister of the husband of the sister of the dearly departed (yes that repetition is intentional – I told you he was on the fringe).
Danita pointed out that it was his sister who did all the talking and he would sit quietly by himself.
Within a couple of minutes of being introduced to D we were happily chatting about IT and software development and all sorts of fascinating subjects. This went completely over Danita’s head and she went off to find someone else to chat with.
Currently, I’m working on a new project and my role is to sort out the software to be able to do what the sales people are selling. (Have you noticed the propensity of sales people to sell without making sure you can actually deliver? It’s a worry!!!)
The conversation with D provided some excellent advice and a recommendation to explore Python. This may have solved my issues but it’s still a little early to tell for sure.
Eventually, the dessert tray was brought out and I had to put our conversation on hold. (There are priorities and chocolate tends to rate quite highly.)
I was then talking with A (Susan’s sister) who pointed out another family member (A’s huband’s daughter’s husband – relax there’s only one more family tree branch to come).
He’s the Principal of a school which deals with challenged students. I went and had a lovely chat with him about introducing some unique programs aimed at keeping young people out of gaol.
I then met with (last one I promise) A’s husband’s son’s fiance – S.
She was telling me about the upcoming wedding and mentioned an issue around getting pregnant.
A client of mine is one of Sydney’s top doctors in that area and I offered to introduce them.
S was very excited by the prospect as she was looking for someone who understood her situation and has a much broader knowledge that just the medical issues – diet, environment etc. This is precisely the person I was looking to introduce her to.
So, to sum it all up:
I went to a function to support Danita. As a result I met someone who was able to solve a big software issue I’m having, had a great conversation around schools and the issues there and was able to provide an introduction to help someone else solve a challenging issue in their life.
Pretty good for a couple of hours.
Oh! and we got fed pretty well also.
If only all networking events could be that productive.