Networking

The Un-Office Christmas Party

Last December I was at a few lunches and drinks parties where a number of people said – I’m treating this as my Christmas party because I don’t have an “official” one to go to.

Anke Holst & John Popham, KIngs Cross, December 2013

These two lovely people, Anke Holst (@the_anke) & John Popham (@johnpopham) were at one such impromptu drinks meetup in a Kings X pub that loads of other people, most of them one-man bands, turned up to.

I’m considering trying to organise something in London for this December, if anyone from my sole trader/entrepreneur/lone wolf/freelance consultant/one-man band network is interested. After all, Christmas is only 108 days away…maybe early evening dinner somewhere fun on Tuesday 16 December?

Give me a shout on Twitter or in the comments below if you’re in.

10 under 30 – female fire starters to watch

My gift to you today is a list of the 10 young women under 30 in my own network that I admire immensely and believe are ones to watch. This blog is loosely connected to my other posts on women in tech and is also a nice precursor to a couple of events I’m speaking at over the next few weeks (Create: 2014 at CultureTECH in Derry on 17 Sept and Digital Women Teacamp at the NAO on 9 Oct).

I don’t think anyone else out there will know ALL the remarkable women on this list so this blog will allow those that are listed to find each other and it will alert everyone else to their existence – so that you can all find and follow them.

The women on this list are very different from each other but there are a number of common threads that unite them. They’ve all started something interesting of their own, or are poised to start something. They’re all friendly but tenacious, busy but generous with their time, smart but hungry to learn more, successful but humble.

Anyway, without further ado and in no particular order, here’s my list:

Sheree Atcheson of Kainos

Sheree Atcheson @nirushika
In her day job Sheree works as a software engineer at Kainos in Belfast. She founded Women Who Code UK as one of her many sidelines and she was one of the organisers of the Belfast Technology Conference earlier this year, attracting and engaging with speakers from the US and elsewhere. Sheree works tirelessly to promote STEM career options to younger people and she uses a quote on women in tech that I love – “in order to be in tech, you do not need to be a man, a “geek” or a “nerd”. All you need is to be interested.”
Sheree is an excellent role model for younger women and girls who are considering a career as coders and we’re working together in December at Queen’s University on just such a workshop.
You can find out more about Women Who Code UK & Sheree here http://womenwhocode.co.uk/tag/sheree-atcheson/

Serena McCrossan @serenamc
I worked with Serena at Learning Pool where she’s a Digital Marketing Exec.

Serena McCrossan Learning Pool

Serena started her own business, Innov8 Marketing, in her final year of university when she was 21 and ran that for a few years. She wrote a very honest blog about her own startup experience that you can read here http://giveitsomesparkle.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/business-failure-is-never-fatal-a-story-of-bravery/ I like the way Serena managed to take the positives from her Innov8 experience and she’s definitely living proof that walking through treacle only makes you stronger.
Serena’s one of the most confident and self-assured young women I’ve ever met & she also knows more about SEO and web lead generation than anyone else I know. It’s great that she’s working at Learning Pool but a little bit of me wonders from time to time how awesome the next business she starts by herself will be.

Olwen Sheedy, PWC Dublin

Olwen Sheedy @OlwenSheedy
Where to start with Olwen! She’s the most organised person I know and a definite contender for the person who has achieved most, lived in the most places, knows the most people and is still well under 25. Hey – she’s even appointed her own “personal” board of directors. Isn’t that a cool idea – think of all the support you need in the various parts of your life & then slot people in. You don’t even have to tell them if you don’t want to!
I met Olwen when she was working for Enterprise Ireland in London, helping Irish businesses get a foothold in the UK market, but she already had a US track record under her belt long before she got here and she’s now joined PWC in Dublin. Olwen – London’s missing you already & I’m expecting great things from you.

Immy Kaur @ImmyKaur

Immy Kaur, Hub Birmingham

Everything that Immy does is about using her own considerable personal energy to make positive change happen for other people and society. Her projects have all been deeply seated in social good and it’s remarkable to see such a gifted young person focus her energies in this way. The world would be a very different place if only there were a few more like Immy around.
In the short time that I’ve known her I can just tell she’s one of those people that gets things done very quickly without much in terms of resources – the best sort of person but one that’s in short supply.
She’s Co-Founder of Hub Birmingham – and I quote “Hub Birmingham is focused on making Birmingham more equitable, more democratic, more wondrous and a home for the 21st century. Made in Birmingham, Made by Birmingham, Made for Birmingham.” Keep on keeping on Immy – I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us when you’re the PM.

Charlotte Jee, ComputerworldUK

Charlotte Jee @CharlotteJee
Charlotte is senior reporter at ComputerworldUK covering government/public sector and how they use (and abuse!) technology. Like Elaine (see later) she gets to mix with and interview a lot of cool tech people in her job. Charlotte starting working whilst she was still at university, writing newswire (three-sentence ticker stuff you see at the bottom of Reuters screens) on the pharma industry for a couple of years.
I feel as if I’ve known Charlotte for years but that’s probably because she’s a networker and a party goer with her finger right on the pulse of government. I love that she calls herself a “government botherer” on her Twitter bio.
My hope is that Charlotte is going to collect lots and lots of scurrilous information about Whitehall personalities and then publish a no-holds-barred book for us all to enjoy.

Elaine Burke @CriticalRedPen

Elaine Burke, Silicon Republic

Elaine is a Dublin based tech journalist who works for Silicon Republic, Ireland’s awesome online source of technology news. She writes for traditional print media too and has authored a couple of chapters of a book coming out later this year on Dublin’s Silicon Docks. When she’s not writing about tech, she’s talking about it on the radio. Elaine was named Tech Journalist of the Year in the 2013 Journalism and Media Awards (also known as the JAMs).
We first met in real life when Elaine was interviewing me on camera about my views on women in tech. What a job as I hate being filmed. I was so impressed by Elaine’s thorough preparation, quiet composure and command of her technical team.
Basically Elaine has one of the coolest jobs in tech where she gets to meet lots & lots of tech startups, tech glitterati and even better, sample and review all the latest gadgets. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when she starts something herself!

Sarah McBride, Create: 2014

Sarah McBride @SMB_Business
Sarah is one of the youngest women on my list. I’ve worked with Sarah on the Create: 2014 conference that’s happening at CultureTECH festival in Derry on 17 September (it’s not too late to join us) and have been thoroughly impressed with her professionalism and level of ambition.
Sarah just got her “A” Level results this summer (I know she’ll hate me saying this but she got 4 As) and is starting at University of Bath next month. It’s wonderful to meet such a motivated young person and I have no doubt whatsoever that we’ll see Sarah starting her own business before too long.

Lyra McKee @LyraMcKee

Lyra McKee, Beacon Reader

Lyra is a Belfast based investigative and independent journalist. I first met her at a Barcamp in Derry back in 2009 when she was an achingly young startup founder & CEO but I was immediately struck by her passion and fire. At that time, Lyra had founded (and self funded with 3 of her friends) a startup called NewsRupt, an intermediary company that allowed news editors to bid on stories created by freelance journalists. I’ve since watched her get a number of her own ideas up and running as well as working in other people’s startups on the side to earn a bit of cash.
Lyra is full of great ideas and she’s forever rooting for the underdog. I know that one of these days she’s going to pull off something big. You can read her blog here http://muckraker.me/

Lily Dart, dxw

Lily Dart @Lily_Dart
Lily is a graphic designer and front end developer for public sector web design business dxw. She describes herself as a “geek and feminist”. We’ve recently been working together on the preparation for the second #DigitalWomen Teacamp event that’s happening on 9 October at the NAO.
I first encountered Lily at one of the UK Govcamp events a couple of years ago and was impressed by her straight talking about what it’s like being a young female web developer working in a largely all male environment and her useful advice for other young women.
I love that Lily (like Charlotte) started working as a freelancer whilst she was still at university, earning money and building her network. We need more women like Lily in tech.

Emma Leahy @emsiememsie

Emma Leahy, Get Invited

I first met Emma when she was the Editor at Sync NI, Northern Ireland’s most respected technology, science and innovation magazine. I was bowled over by her energy and positivity. No wonder she was the person chosen to profile tech giant Steve Wozniak when he graced the Province with his presence and I will be forever jealous that she got to meet one of my absolute favourite entrepreneurs, Sir Tim Smit.

These days Emma is Marketing Manager for online ticketing and event registration startup Get Invited. The guys are going great guns and currently have almost 400 events advertised on the platform with gross ticket value approaching £3m – wow!

I’m always delighted to run into Emma at events because she has the sunniest personality and she knows all the best tech gossip!

Samantha Sparrow, Task Squad

Samantha Sparrow @SamRSparrow
I couldn’t write a blog like this without including Sam, even though she’s ever so slightly past 30 (sorry for telling everyone that Sam). Sam is a force of nature and a complete one-off. In my long and varied career, I’ve never worked with anyone else like her.
A lawyer and a social entrepreneur, Sam is the driving force behind Task Squad, a social innovation startup from national youth volunteering charity vInspired. Sam has worked in the 3rd sector for 10 years and daily brings to bear all the skills she gained as part of her legal training in a positive way to help bring about social change. For the first 4 months of this year the two of us met with hundreds of people across London and without fail, every single one of them said to me afterwards “Wow – she’s impressive!”

Sam’s a blogger (check out the High Tea Cast) and a Hoxton Radio DJ, she ran the London Marathon for 2 children’s charities this year, she’s a chatterbox, a multitasker, a visionary and a livewire with a heart of gold. Cross her at your peril! If we had more people like Sam in charity innovation the world would be a very different place.

Olivia McVeigh @omcveigh15 & Shelly McVeigh @mcveigh_shelly

Olivia McVeigh and Shelly McVeigh

At 16 and 17 respectively these are the youngest women on my list and they’re also the ones closest to my heart as they’re my nieces. To say I’m expecting big things from these two is an understatement. They’ve just received their GCSE results and are starting out with A Levels next. They’ve both been brought up to believe 100% that they can do ANYTHING with their lives and that opportunity exists at every turn in the road. I have no idea yet what Olivia and Shelly will choose to do but I know it’s going to be huge – and for that reason I’ve sneaked them in at the end of my list.

OK – the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I’ve listed not 10 but 13. I hope I haven’t missed out anyone from my circle…

Please continue the conversation and make your own nominations in the comments below.

Secrets of a Professional Tweeter

Last week I was pleased to join the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce to speak at their Creative Connections event in the Grand Opera House in Belfast.

The real treat of the evening however was listening to David Levin.

David Levin – professional tweeter and freelance writer

David is one of the UK’s handful of professional full time tweeters. That’s what he does for a living – all day every day. He’s worked for BBC One’s The Voice, Channel 4, Radio 1 and brands such as Adidas and MoneySupermarket. He started off by running the Twitter account for the Dolphin pub in Hackney (@The_Dolphin_Pub) during the London riots and his fame and demand for his unique service has grown from that success. His objective is basically to give personality to a brand (he writes the tweets for loads of brands as well as a handful of celebrities) and to attract followers & achieve high numbers of retweets.

Can you believe there is such a job? I had no idea. It works in two ways – either David sends his client a load of pre-written tweets & they just select some & post them up themselves or he does the tweeting for clients within an agreed set of parameters & in a certain brand approved tone of voice. Fascinating eh? I bet there are a few people reading this blog that would fancy that as a career.

His talk encouraged lots and lots of questions from the audience and we discussed everything from how annoying it is when you notice your competitors have been buying (usually overseas based) followers to how you should respond to criticism of your organisation posted up on Twitter & how it’s best not to go into complete meltdown as some brands have done to their detriment (such as Twix and many others). A story has just broken earlier this week about Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust and their manipulation of user content on their website (it’s alleged they have been removing critical user comments and augmenting positive comments with comments from their own staff) so it will be interesting to see how they handle that. He also told us a very funny & slightly risque (for the crowd present anyway!) about how when he was doing some tweeting for the Apprentice, he mistakenly thought that the wattle named by a contestant as the least favourite part of his body was a colloquial reference to his genitals & David helpfully tweeted as such. Hahaha.

L-R David McConnell (Arts Council NI), Louise Turley (NI Chamber), David Levin, Mary McKenna

We all laughed when someone in the audience explained how she had been “knocking her pan in” to get new Twitter followers – poor David (not being from Northern Ireland) had no idea what she was talking about.

My own talk was about How to Build a Kick Ass Business Network and my slides, if you’re interested in taking a look, have been uploaded to

Slideshare. You can access them here http://www.slideshare.net/MMaryMcKenna/how-to-build-a-kick-ass-business-network

Mary McKenna speaking at NI Chamber Creative Connections event

My messages to the group at the event were all about how in today’s world, if you’re not visible and active online and easy to find & connect with then there are whole worlds of conversations that are happening out there that you aren’t part of. I’d like to cross link this blog with an excellent recent blog on this topic from Emer Coleman. Again – you can read Emer’s blog here http://www.emercoleman.com/2/post/2014/03/why-senior-leaders-in-ireland-need-to-improve-their-online-presence.html

In case you’re wondering what David’s secrets to success are in notching up those high numbers of retweets, his top tips are to use quizzes in your tweets and also to make frequent references to star signs.

Interested in your views about this and also any hints and tips you might like to share with the rest of us. As always, please do continue the conversation in the comments below.

10 Cardinal Rules of Business Networking for entrepreneurs (and others)

Assembled crowd in Dublin Castle when I arrived

In my world it’s quite common for entrepreneurs who are a bit further ahead than the rest of us to put something back in terms of the people following in their trail. This can happen via formal networks (Digital Circle, Irish International Business Network, Global Irish Network, Chambers of Commerce, CBI, etc – we all have plenty of groups we’re members of) or it can be more informal – people you already know or meet along the way or via events that provide access to the Great & the Good (Culturetech in Derry is a recent example of a fabulous event that was bunged full of tech world glitterati as was the EBN Congress event run by NORIBIC in May with illustrious keynote speakers such as Steve Wozniak and Tim Smit).

Being able to ask questions of the people further ahead is mission critical to an entrepreneur (and corporate world managers I guess). Even better is using networking to find yourself a small number of mentors and advisors with whom you can start an ongoing relationship. Having personal access to leaders with proven success is a well known piece of the entrepreneur puzzle and one which significantly improves a startup’s chances of making it to the end of that all important first year.

Yesterday I attended the 3rd Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin Castle. It was hosted by the Taoiseach & the Tanaiste and is a biannual gathering of 250 of Ireland’s most influential & successful people. This year the Tanaiste decided to include some Northern Irish businesses amongst the 100 SME businesses that are invited & that’s how come I was there. It was terrifying. I only knew two people there out of two or three hundred when I arrived.

One of the most frequently used phrases I heard yesterday was “I will help you if I can” – but as an entrepreneur how do you respond to and action that offer in order to get most benefit out of it for your company. I thought about this a lot on the way home last night & decided to write a quick blog. As usual, the list below is not finished or complete so please do add your own tips in the comments section & we’ll all be pleased to read those later.

Have an elevator pitch and be ready to trot it out anytime & anywhere. Keep it brief or you’ll lose your important audience. Be able to flex it so that you can give a different version dependent on what sort of person you are pitching to and what country they are from – are they a potential door opener, investor, mentor. If you aren’t good on your feet you need to practice this to the point where it just rolls out effortlessly freeing you up to watch their body language & listen & respond to their points/questions. If you can’t do this, don’t put yourself through the pain of going to this sort of event. Instead find someone who can do it for you.
Don’t be afraid to approach people and always ask for help – when you get to a place where you feel you are comfortable to ask for some support just go ahead and ask. Hardly anyone ever says no. I’ve only been turned down by one person – it’s someone you all know so DM me if you want me to spill the beans – I can’t do it on here! But it was only one person and I’ve asked hundreds for help.
Don’t be afraid to be ambitious – in my group yesterday someone asked if a couple of the US heavy hitters could help her secure Hillary Clinton as a keynote speaker for her conference next year. Time will tell on that one!
Before you ask, be very clear about what it is that you want them to do for you. I have a couple of “open” offers right now where people have offered to help me with “something” – but I don’t yet know what I can best use that offer for. Help could be making an intro to someone to joining your board or investing in your company – and anything on the spectrum in between.
Never expect someone like this to do any heavy lifting or grunt work for you, that’s your job. What I mean by that is you have to do the homework and present the information to them so that all they do is give you an opinion or a steer – don’t expect they will do your market research for you. If for example you were looking for a channel partner in an overseas territory, research who the players are, what their characteristics and pros/cons for you are & then ask for some advice in which 3 out of the 10 in existence are best for your company to approach.
Be 100% serious when you execute on whatever it is you’ve asked the person to do. If someone opens a door for you at your request then do your homework & don’t screw up the sales pitch when you get there. It’s not just your own chips you’re using – it’s the chips of everyone similar to you that’s following on behind you. I heard one US mentor describe this yesterday as “political capital”. I’ve also heard it called “reputational capital”. What does that mean? – I make an intro for you, you show up half prepped or don’t turn up, I’m now in a much worse place with the contact I’ve sent you to. No pressure but be careful what you wish for and only engage if you know you are ready.
Some access is for a one-off offer & some might lead to an ongoing relationship – be careful to work out which it is early doors.
Related to the above point, if it’s the start of an ongoing relationship you probably need to meet a few times before both parties are comfortable. The first time you meet just establishes that you like each other & possibly have a common interest. You now need to get to know each other a bit better. As the “recipient”, you need to do the running to make sure the relationship develops.
When you have a new advisor in your circle, don’t just use the red phone and ring them when you need a decision made or have a crisis. You’ll get far more out of the relationship if you keep them up to speed with what you’re doing & how things are going as you go along. Again, it’s up to you to find a way to do that & put the work in to make it happen. These guys are never going to be chasing you.
Finally – when you’re at this sort of event, be brave and approach strangers and start up a conversation. Everyone is there because of one or more vested interests of their own and they want to talk to you. Never forget that people prefer to do business with people they like so at initial brief meetings like these be pleasant, don’t argue and regard it as a way of “interviewing” and filtering those that you will follow up and keep in touch with. I came away yesterday with a handbag stuffed full of business cards and today will be spent following up with the people I met.

A few weeks ago at Culturetech festival in Derry I was lucky enough to meet & chat with Wilson Kriegel (former COO of OMGPOP, creators of Draw Something) and he said something that has stayed with me. You start forming relationships the day you are born; growing and nurturing those relationships is key to the success of an entrepreneur. Yep – at the end of the day business is all about people – nothing else really matters.

If you’re just getting started with networking, here’s a link to an earlier blog I wrote a couple of years back https://kickingassets.co.uk/so-you-want-to-network/

So you want to network?

The Business Link website defines business networking as being about connecting with other people in order to share information, resources and leads. It adds that the emphasis is on relationship building – getting to know people, finding out how you can help them and what they can do for you. Not a bad definition to be honest. The Americans do this so much better than we Brits & Irish – they just aren’t as shy as we are & they’re blessed with oodles of self confidence from an early age that we just don’t seem to have. The picture above is the Learning Pool team welcoming guests to our conference last year. I love this picture because everyone’s engaged in animated conversations and there’s a tangible air of busyness.

There’s no doubt that a sizeable and varied network is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. The act of building your own network is a lot of fun, good (and sometimes quirky) things can happen along the way and you get to meet loads of great new people. But it’s an investment that takes a lot of time & effort, especially in the early days when you’re just starting out and don’t know many people. The end result however is valuable and well worthwhile and should result in you having a variety of people you can go to for:

· business advice, maybe specialist advice about new product development or a new market, or just a general sounding board;

· career advice, perhaps you feel as if you’re losing your way with your progress or just need a one off discussion with someone about a specific job offer;

· introductions to all manner of people and organisations;

· sales introductions and potential leads.

So – how should you get started with networking. The first thing to note is how much easier this is with the arrival of Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook. Gone are the days of showing up at a conference or event with a delegate list & praying you may catch sight of the name badge on a person you want to talk to. Social networking is a great leveller as well – I treat everyone the same on Twitter as I usually have no idea of their status – and it’s also good news for people that are very shy. Other ways to get started are to comment on other people’s blogs, volunteer in your local community, use your professional body if you have one, use work related groups that you may be part of, join your local chamber of commerce or junior chamber, get involved in a political party if that’s your bag. You should also have a long, hard think about everyone you already know and you should remember that building a network is something that is additional to being at work – a lot of this needs to happen in your own free time.

Like most things in life there are a few cardinal sins – these are the main ones in my book:

· not following up on an introduction that someone has made for you;

· collecting people for the sake of it and not really having any interest in them or what they do (those serial networkers with hundreds of LinkedIn contacts with people they’ve never met);

· only collecting people that are “useful” to you right now – this is shortsighted (you never know what’s around the next corner) and it’s also mean;

· mixing up networking & selling – never, ever pitch to a new introduction unless you’ve been specifically invited to.

Some people are phenomenal networkers and if you know someone like this & treat them well, with a bit of luck and a lot of grace they may one day gradually introduce you to their own networks and accelerate your progress. These are people I know who are legendary networkers – Twitter names in brackets – Ellie Stoneley (@E11ie5) Matt Johnston (@cimota) Dave Briggs (@davebriggs) Bill McCluggage (@BillMcCluggage) Michelle Gallen (@michellegallen) Shirley Ayres (@ShirleyAyres) Lyra McKee (@lyramckee) Bill Liao (@liaonet).

Some hints and tips – there are more of these on Dave Briggs’ excellent & related blog “The networked public servant” which you can read at this link http://davepress.net/

· Remember karma – what goes around does come around – this is a two way street where you have to be as generous with your time and introductions as others have been for you;

· Be brave – what’s the worst that can happen – someone doesn’t want to speak to you or connect with you;

· Make a conscious effort to speak to people you don’t know – don’t take the easy option and hang out with your friends the whole time at events;

· Be courteous and a little bit persistent when making contact with new people; don’t be afraid to approach people speaking at conferences for a quick chat – most people are approachable and it’s part of human nature to want to help others;

· Take time to get to know people and talk to them properly when you meet them, chat until you find commonality, don’t be rushing on to the next person on your list, remember why you have two ears and one mouth.

As always I’ll leave you with a story. We were at an awards dinner a couple of years ago with our own senior team. It was one of those occasions where none of us really knew anyone – but the room was full of investors, politicians and general big wigs – people whose radar we wanted to get onto. Ok guys – we said – network! – let’s go. My business partner’s wife, who was also there, tells how fear passed fleetingly across their faces but when I looked around the room 5 minutes later – every one of them was chatting away to someone different and my heart swelled with pride – again!

Welcome your comments, stories and tips for others on this important topic.

Photograph courtesy of Anna Karas – thanks Anna!

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