Hello Maria,
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend a large conference focusing on equity and inclusion. I was hoping to be able to network with people who were as passionate as I about equity and to bring back tools to share with all of you. Several of the sessions did provide new ideas and content but I found that meeting and connecting with others was difficult. It seemed that most attendees had come to this conference for multiple years and already had their cliques or they were attending with friends and coworkers and were less than welcoming. When I spoke with other first-time attendees, in particular those from marginalized communities, I learned I wasn’t feeling alone; they were also experiencing an ‘othering’ that made it impossible for them to meet the people that they were so excited to network with. We sat at lunch and session tables alone as all other tables were filled with people chatting with their friends, or, when we built up that confidence to ask to sit at an empty seat at those tables, we were greeted with stony silence and were ignored.
This made me immediately think about what I can do to help attendees at our events, especially at the large ones like our UNITE Nonprofit + Grantmaker Conference, network and connect in a more meaningful way. With today’s message, I’m asking you to think about who you are engaging with any time you are out and about. Are you sticking with the people who you are comfortable with or are you willing to sit at a table with a person who is sitting alone? Are you willing to greet everyone with a smile and ask questions that help you get to know them as individuals and not just their companies and roles?
I challenge you this month, to start actually connecting with those around you, and when attending events, spending the time to network with new people instead of staying within your comfort zone.
In service,
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