By Jenny Sims
We met in a smart new Cardiff hotel room for one day. Employed, self-employed, unemployed and redundant. Male and female, 22 to 50+. Print & broadcast journalists, reporters, subs, producers, PRs, media trainers, travel writers, Arts reviewers and scriptwriters. (Hope I haven’t left anyone out)!
If some of us were strangers on meeting, most of us were friends on leaving – if only in Social Media terms.
The man who brought our motley group together was ex-BBC broadcaster, now media trainer, David Thomas, presenting a workshop organised by NUJ Training Wales called Linking In and Meeting Up: How to Leave a Good Impression.
Free workshop
And he would have been worth every penny, had we had to pay the usual NUJ fee. But amazingly, it was FREE – if you were a union member, thanks to WULF (the Welsh Government’s Wales Union Learning Fund).
David (Dave only to his university friends) rather reminded me of Martin Lewis on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box. Crisp, clear, quite dry and sometimes funny. Other people have told him he reminds them of choirmaster and broadcaster, Gareth Malone.
I certainly came away with tips which will hopefully increase my workload and improve my bank balance. And I could happily have burst into song – so full of positive action did I feel afterwards – but opted to celebrate with another happy trainee in a nearby bar instead.
Digital and face-to-face networking
Financial and musical gurus aside, though most of us were already using Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter, all of us at the end of the day had a better understanding of how to get the best out of Social Media and a clearer understanding of networking – in all its forms.
One obvious tip: “Use social media to make sure you meet people face-to-face.”
Without giving any of the course content away, I can admit we had lots of fun examining every conceivable concept of networking, both positive and negative; analysing the success or failure of other people’s LinkedIn profiles, and critiquing a considerable range of business cards (will definitely be changing mine as a result)!
And by the end of the day we had also:
- Learned about using time-saving tools to maintain digital engagement e.g. Hootsuite
- Got a better understanding of our digital footprint
- Identified what we’re selling individually and how it can help others
- Drawn up personal action plans with practical measures to improve our online and face-to-face networking.
More networking workshops
So, whether you’re looking for a new job, freelance work, or a change of career, this is a course you’re likely to find useful in some way. And the good news is that NUJ Training Wales say they will put it on again if there is sufficient demand.
What are you waiting for? Get in touch: [email protected]
More information at:
www.nujtrainingwales.org; www.davidthomasmedia.com
See Jenny’s blog, MediaWatch