Networking Night

On the night of January 15, 2009 I found myself very nervous about the future events of the evening. Not only was I nervous about meeting many successful business executives, but also what if I don't say the right thing and I make a fool out of myself? After I came over my fear I walked into the St. Charles room filled with all of my fellow College of Business students, mentors, past and future professors and business executives. As I began to mingle with the many people in the room, I found myself conversing with some very important people. I ended up meeting five very wonderful people. First, I spoke to Professor of Marketing at Loyola University New Orleans, Dr. Mike Pearson, PH.D. He explained many of the benefits and affects marketing has in the corporate world today. The second person I met was John J. Zollinger, IV, Regional Manager from Region Bank. He attended undergraduate school at Spring Hill College, then University of New Orleans, and finished his masters at Louisiana State University. He currently works in finance, he explained benefits of taking and majoring in accounting to many of the students at the event. He believes that although his job description does not mention psychology, he uses many of the ideas involved with this everyday at work. I also met Lee Vorisek, President of Alta Max LLC, a packaging company. He graduated with an engineering degree from Tulane University. Another person that I met was Mason G. Couvillon, President of Dardis Couvillon & Associates which deals with Financial Services and Insurance. He attended Jesuit High School and went to Georgetown University for college. He works as a financial planner. After speaking with him and introducing myself I realized that he knew a cousin of mine that also worked in the financial world in New Orleans. How small the world really is. Finally I ended my rounds by speaking to Jude Boudreaux from Bellingrath Wealth Management. He works as a Financial Planner, he stressed the importance of a well rounded education by taking other business classes even though you may not be majoring in them. During this event I felt as if I worked the room well, I worked my way around and did not just stay in one place and wait for someone to come to me. For future events similar to this all I could say is that I need to just relax and stop worrying about what I am going to say, just to involve myself in conversation better. I need to practice ways to start a conversation besides just introducing myself or asking what they do for a living. If I could emulate a certain business professional today I would probably say it would have to be Warren Buffet, who seems to be one of if not the most successful business man today. Tips on Business Networking and Social Networking Helping Your Business to Succeed are some helpful websites on networking.