Despite the pervasiveness of LinkedIn, various Internet tools,  and entrepreneurial and startup mixers that are held in every city, people tend to forget the power of networking in “Professional Groups.”

It is extremely critical to attend local professional interest groups to develop your contact base and open up doors for new opportunities, even if you’re employed.  Of course this even more important if you’re employed.  In the summer of 2002, while I was running my nonprofit, I was debating whether I should look for more stable employment or continue to bootstrap my venture.  I literally scoured the Boston Globe online under the “Events” section within a now defunct area called “Digital Mass.”  I made a note of every relevant professional group meeting taking place in the next three weeks and made sure to block off my calendar in order to attend them.

In the process, I attended a meeting of the Boston E-learning Society, a nonprofit group which at the time was dedicated to connecting professionals and individuals with an interest in and experience with e-learning.  My prior work at Mainspring, a strategy consulting firm, had given me a significant amount of exposure to the field as I had helped to incubate a new e-learning division for one of country’s oldest publishers.  More importantly, it had given me a platform of conversation that I could use at the meeting.

One trick to making an effective impact at networking functions is to arrive early when there are no more than just a handful of folks in attendance.  Why is this important?  First of all, you can make the maximum impact with the group’s organizers and present yourself in a more extensive and detailed light than if you are making rounds at a cocktail hour where everyone is simply paying attention to the food and alcohol.  Secondly, and just as importantly, the organizers will most likely know some regular attendees at their meetings with whom they recommend you speak.

This is exactly what happened to me at the Boston E-Learning Society Meeting.  I arrived early and met the group’s organizing committee, and in particular, an extremely talented ex-publishing marketing manager by the name of Phyllis.  Phyllis had become an independent consultant and in the process was very well connected in the industry.  We engaged in a discussion around the publishing industry and the competitive dynamics that were taking place.  I could tell that I had made a good impression on her as she offered to introduce me to a few of the more notable attendees who were registered to come.  I casually mentioned that I was thinking of entering the publishing field directly and she took it from there.

She gave me the name and contact information of a former colleague of hers at Houghton Mifflin.   She also made it a point to tell me that she rarely refers anyone, so clearly I had done my job and made a strong impression.  When I called the contact to introduce myself with her name, I was given immediate attention.  The contact, Andy, a Marketing Director at Houghton Mifflin, happened to be a former colleague of Phyllis’s.  He asked about my relationship with Phyllis and how I must have impressed her in order to get a referral.  Moreover, he mentioned, “Well Puneet, your timing couldn’t be better.  I’m just filing to get approval on a new job requisition reporting in my department.”  While I did not receive an offer through the interview process, I learned the value of taking an initiative at the Boston E-Learning Society meeting, without which, I would have never uncovered this opportunity.