Networking is a skill. Just getting out there and winging it is a gift. As a many-time facilitator, I was certain that getting back into networking was going to be easy.

Hi, my name is Georgina and last week (March 6th) I attended the Black Valley x Climate X recruitment and networking event - aimed at increasing the visibility of climate technology. This was my first time attending a Black Valley event, an organisation whose mission is to “discover, nurture and place top black tech talent to change how the technology of tomorrow is built.”

But back to what we’re here to explore. Networking as a skill, in an unfamiliar environment. So how did I do?

It was awkward. I almost left the event, entirely. I went there to share a website award concept I’ve been working on, but no one from my target group was there *facepalm*. I looked around to find a group to join but I saw no opportunities. I finally found one person. Only she was busy organising the event *second facepalm*. So I struck up a conversation about pizza. Yes, pizza - it lasted hmm… 30 seconds *third facepalm*.

And then it finally happened. With pizza in my hands and my mouth full of food, I met a stranger in the same position as me; wandering around looking for someone to talk to. Very quickly, another person joined us. A win!

In under 10 mins, I had co-founded my own little group. After that, it didn’t matter that we went to different groups during the event because, in the back of my mind, I had people I could always come back to should I feel awkward again. Turns out that the rest of the night went fine. I heard from the founder of Climate X, his team and the founder of Black Valley. I met someone working on an exciting app idea and asked him about building community as his app grows.

So in the end, I didn’t get exactly what I was hoping for, but I did meet some good people who could point me in the right direction to push forward with my website award concept. So yes networking is a skill, unfortunately, you can only develop by stumbling your way through events - preferably without a mouth full of food. But it can be a good conversation start.

A little about me. I'm an onboarding developer who designs and engineers onboarding experiences for start-ups and growing communities. Currently, I’m looking for co-founders to join the Design { in code } Award. The Design { in code } Award encourages non-developers to engineer solutions that are loved by their inner creative. Watch this space!

Better yet, get involved - message me on Instagram @designincodeaward

In the vain of community building and self-development. I’d like to invite you to give me feedback on my website. Check it out here: https://gooodbusy.carrd.co/

Then share your feedback https://form.typeform.com/to/fk6qqLxC

Special thanks to Niyo for the feature, and the Black Valley for an amazing event.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Georgina Appeagyei