The Future of Networking for Women & Your Digital Presence:

Women make great leaders and networking is a key pillar of creating new business and life opportunities. And effective networking requires successfully connecting and fostering trust with our peers and colleagues, building that important bridge from stranger to acquaintance, and doing so authentically. When women effectively direct their empathy, emotional intelligence and resilience to others in conversation and follow-up, the extraordinary is possible.

Over the past 20 years, we have seen more and more of our personal and professional lives migrating away from real-life, in-person interactions and toward online ones, mediated through the internet. And the COVID pandemic has significantly accelerated (some would say forced) this digital migration. Many of the traditional elements of networking—catching up with others at conferences, brainstorming ideas over coffee, engaging in water cooler conversations—are simply impossible now. The “in-person” aspects of networking will return, and now is the time to prepare for the ‘new normal’.

So if we cannot meet in person, what options do women have to better establish and nurture network connections? Some good networking tactics include dropping someone a line in Slack, sending an email, making an “old-fashioned” phone call, and—common in our new normal—initiating a Zoom video conference. But truly successful networking requires applying new approaches, including bolstering and monitoring your digital reputation.

Curating a positive and representative digital presence for yourself is an effective way to earn respect and build credibility when we cannot engage with others in real life, face to face. How we represent ourselves online powerfully influences how we are perceived and can have a significant impact on our ability to develop new friendships. Simply put, both you and your business need to look good online in order to transcend antiquated country or industry specific gender imbalances.

Your online reputation is unique, somewhat like your fingerprint, made up of your myriad engagements with and through the internet, from Google searches to social media posts and comments. Although we can control some of these things, others we can only influence. Our opportunity lies in being able to own and drive the narrative—to craft a digital presence that reflects your true character and accomplishments.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand and successfully navigate the “new normal” for business and relationships in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Recognize the necessity of an authentic digital profile.
• Proactively curate a narrative online when faced with choice overload.
• Practice actionable strategies to optimize your digital reputation.
• Discern best practice considerations for thoughtfully representing your industry leadership.
• Review the fundamentals of networking in person and how to follow-up with purpose.