Well we had a very successful North Central Chapter NAMA meeting here in Minneapolis and I’m now connected with more of my NAMA peeps. That’s what I like about NAMA the most – connecting with other people. Pictured here is chapter president, Josh Krenz, Land O’Lakes, getting us started.

I interviewed Josh before we got started. I am very impressed with how the chapter has invited in students for this session and is giving them time on the program, an opportunity to circulate resumes and interact socially with us professionals. You can listen to my interview with Josh here: nama-krenz.mp3

We started out our meeting tonight with a discussion, including live examples, of online social networking. I was impressed with how many are using LinkedIn and Facebook. However, when it came to Twitter, the number dropped significantly. Keep in mind that you can use Twitter to update your blog and Facebook profile!

After we worked through the online version we moved to a face to face speed networking session.

I led a session like this at NAMA Boot Camp earlier this year. Basically, everyone sits around tables and when I say “go” they introduce themselves to the person across the table and get to know each other. Then after a couple minutes one side of the table rotates to the next one. At the end of the session everyone has met at least a few new people.

Here’s what it sounds like: nama-speed-networking.mp3

I mentioned students above. Here’s me with the students attending from the University of Minnesota.

I highly encourage all NAMA chapters to involve students in their meetings. It will seriously pay dividends for everyone involved.

So that’s what’s going on in the “great white north” (8 degrees tonight!). I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for networking.