The Power of Networking: Why the Front Row Pays Off

During an executive leadership workshop, I noticed most of the seats in the back were already taken. The front seats were wide open, so I chose the front. The speaker laughed and asked what possessed me to sit up front when everyone else was hiding in the back. I joked that if I sat in the back, my attention span would be gone within five minutes.

Sitting up front put me in the speaker’s line of sight. The workshop host sat next to me and we engaged in conversation. We compared notes on the session and talked about their work. Their answer told me exactly where the money lived. Not because I was mining for money, but because that’s where the conversation naturally went. That connection delivered a funding lead and a coaching contact in under two hours. I followed that lead to secure funding and booked the same executive coach for a workshop I was organizing in my office. No cold emails. No LinkedIn InMails that get ignored. Just proximity and a pulse.

Why Proximity Beats Strategy

Networking is not about who you know, but who knows what you need and who happens to be standing next to you when you realize it.

• Sit where the action is. In most workshops and panels, the front row is almost always open. Taking it costs nothing, but it puts you in the speaker’s line of sight before the session even starts, and that alone tends to spark conversations without any real effort.
• Ask something real, not something designed to impress. A simple comment about the session, the coffee or even the bad air conditioning, without trying to impress anyone, usually gets further than a rehearsed elevator pitch.
• Follow up before you leave the building, not three days later. Information has a shelf life. Warm introductions and funding leads cool really fast once everyone goes back to their office. Act on what you learn immediately.

That front row seat cost me nothing except the mild discomfort of being visible. It returned a solution I had been seeking for weeks through formal channels. That’s what proximity does. It puts solutions within reach that strategy keeps at arm’s length. Next time you walk into a room, ignore the empty chairs in the back. They are comfortable for a reason. Sit where the speaker can see you, start the conversation and take the next step before the applause dies down.

Adeline (Addy) Maissonet is a senior advisor on contracting policies and procedures within the Office of the Secretary of War, U.S. Department of War (DoW) and the agency’s representative on the Department’s views on proposed legislation to Congressional members, their staff, and committee staffers. She leads the development and implementation of Department-wide procurement policies for commodities and services, within her portfolio. Prior to her current role, Addy served as a Division Chief and Contracting Officer with unlimited warrant authority for the U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) – Fort Eustis, Virginia. Prior to joining the MICC, Addy served as a Branch Head for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC), Norfolk, Virginia, with unlimited warrant authority. She also held other procurement positions with the U.S. Navy. Addy holds an MBA in Management and Contracting Level III Certification under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act. She is a graduate from Cornell University’s Executive Leadership Certificate Program and Harvard University’s Business Analytics Certificate Program. In her free time, Addy enjoys hiking and overlanding with her family and friends.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of War.

Photo Credit: Mikhail Nilov, Pexels