Networking, an idea that brings dread to the heart of many artists. What do
you mean I have to make connections with an explicit interest in work or
business? Doesn’t it kind of go against being genuine and spontaneous? Well, I
say it’s quite the opposite! Getting in contact with people who work in the
same field as you will many times favour the bloom of real human connections.
After all, if we do the same, we most likely share some perspectives or
interests outside of what we do. It’s just a matter of being open, you’d be
surprised about the apparently random stuff that can sometimes kick-start a
friendship.
A somewhat silly example of this happened to me some time ago: I attended a business motivated gathering soon after getting a new phone from an Asian brand. During the event, a woman approached me to ask me about it and told me that she had seen that particular model featured in some K-dramas (meaning TV series in the Korean language and produced in South Korea) that she’d watched. Surprise, surprise, I also watch K-dramas!
I started around ten years ago, when my daughter was in secondary school and showed them to me. At the time, I was interested in what my children were doing, and while gaming with my son proved to be too hard, I found K-dramas quite enjoyable once I got used to the subtitles (I’m not going to lie, that took a bit of effort). If I remember correctly, the first K-drama I watched is a high school romance called Boys Over Flowers. I then watched some other romance, and then Iris, a special agents focused, action-driven story that really got me hooked into Korean productions. It holds a special place in my memory, but I can’t say it’s my favourite because I’ve watched so many good things that I can’t choose. Overall, I’m mostly into light-hearted comedies and try to avoid suspense because it can get gory. Period dramas are interesting too, which made me think that perhaps I’d enjoy Chinese dramas as well, but the storytelling and visuals are wildly different, so I’m sticking to what I know, haha.
By sharing this with the woman who approached me, I established a genuine
connection over our shared interests. That interaction could become a
friendship, a business relationship, both or neither: what matters is that the
opportunity is there, and that we had a good time. That on itself is a success
on my book.
If you’ve been passing on networking opportunities thinking that they’re going to be awkward, forced or anxiety-inducing, I invite you to give them a chance! Let people surprise you. Also, if you’ve had interesting or funny encounters while networking, I’d love to read about them in the comments. And I’m also open to new K-drama recommendations, of course 😉
