The Networker's Networking Event

Malcolm Gladwell, in Tipping Point, describes three types of people with a "rare set of social gifts" who are integral to the success of an idea or development: mavens who accumulate knowledge, salesmen who sell ideas and connectors who put the right people in touch with one another. It's to this final class that Brian Bodecker Gale and William James Heathershaw -- the respective organizers of NetworkClub and ORIENTED -- firmly belong, and if you want to experience the power of knowing the right people, come to their joint event tomorrow at Club Le at 7 pm. Read on to find out how to get half-price admission.

Networking regulars will recognize ORIENTED as that last-Thursday-of-every-month club that's been going strong since March. NetworkClub, founded by Gale three and a half years ago, took a brief break from monthly events but will now resume regular activities.

We spoke with Gale, who considers himself a professional and lifelong networker, about how to get the most out of these events.

Why network?
The more people you know -- whether you're looking for someone to have dinner with, a girlfriend, a job -- the more opportunities you will have. If you just go to a bar, what are the chances of meeting somebody more than the couple of people sitting around you? And if you just try to make friends at work, that's a narrow thing and you may not want to mix work and pleasure.

We provide an opportunity to meet people in public for whatever goal you may have. We have people from the late teens to 80 years old; we have people absolutely looking for anything and everything you can imagine. I have friends that come just because they know there will be beautiful girls here, and the beautiful girls come knowing there are guys seeking them.

Any advice?
My own recommendation is when you go to a networking event, set a goal. I think life is very goal-oriented, and I'm very goal-oriented. If want to get two interviews for a job, you're more likely to achieve that if you have that goal in mind. If you want to get two girls' phone numbers, set that as a goal.

If you don't set a goal, why are you there? It's like the story of the guy who goes to restaurant who says, Bring me something. And they bring out the food and he says, Oh, I don't like this. A lot of people go to these networking events and wait for something to happen -- well, good luck. If you go with a goal in mind, I promise you, you can achieve it.

What's a good icebreaker?
At our events, we have different colored nametags based on what people's goals are, and on the name tag itself the people write what they're searching for. So we provide an icebreaker that other [networking clubs] don't. You go to a chamber event and sometimes you don't even get a nametag, and you end up talking to someone of your own nationality. In China, you have to know people from every country.

Do you have any good networking stories to share?
A Chinese-born Canadian he met an American-born Chinese woman at one of our brunches -- I know both of them fairly well -- and they sat down and he talked about his father, who came from China, and how he never knew his grandparents, didn't know anything about his village, etc.

And then on her own -- I don't know how she did this, she's an amazing woman -- she started making phone calls and tracking down his family and ended up taking him on a trip to see his grandfather's grave and meeting all the members of his family, distant cousins and so on, and it was just absolutely amazing. We're talking goosebumps material here.

It's very common for us to help people find jobs. At least half a dozen to a dozen long-term relationships have come out of these events. I've personally helped move about $10 million in business deals. The stuff that happens is absolutely amazing: when people meet, things will happen.

Why do you do what you do?
I was brought up that way. My father raised me as a businessman and I was always helping him organize parties and events. When I was young, I questioned the values my father had, I thought he was stupid: why was he not more capitalistic, why did he spend so much time helping people? But actually, maybe now I'm more like that than he was. If I wasn't doing professional networking it wouldn't matter because I still like helping people. It truly gives me pleasure in taking one person with a problem and another person that can solve that problem and putting them together.

Network Club and ORIENTED's joint event is tomorrow at 7 pm at Club Le (S1-30, 3/F, Bldg. 1, Sanlitun Village South, 19 Sanlitun Lu). Cost at the door is 100 RMB (includes two free drinks and snacks), but those who pre-register before noon Thursday (tell them the Beijinger sent you) get a half-price discount. Guests will be entered into a lucky draw with prizes from Club Le, A Bite of Beijing and Dong-Xi.

To register, email RSVP@networkclub.com or ORIENTEDBJ@gmail.com.