Quarter Life Crisis

This has been a roller coaster week for me. 

    Like I mentioned before, the week got off to a shakey start.  There was just so much going on that I wasn't able to focus my energy into networking. On top of that, the life science panel was an uptight bunch… Too many PhD's in one room isn't always a good thing.  Too many successful venture capital PhD's in one room makes the room feel even smaller. On top of that, the day got off to an awkward start, I walked in on an panelist who didn't lock the bathroom door behind him.  Down goes one potential conversation….  lol
    The only positive from day 1 was my chance to speak to some my bioengineering professors who presented in front of the panel.  Its interesting to see them in an non-academic setting.  Some faculty aren't too comfortable speaking to the business people in general so when we spoke, there seemed to be a familiar connection - like we were each other safety lines - a connection that normally doesn't exist in a class room setting either. I guess thats one way to get noticed by your professor. 
    Even though I felt like I took a small step back after the day 1 on my personal network development, this debacle forced  me to refocus my energies and efforts for the rest of the week. One thing I noticed on the first day is that I treated myself as an
unimportant person. I didn't believe that I belonged in that room.  I
filled myself with doubt. Why should a grad student with barely any
experience be sitting at a table with these panelists? I let my nerves
get to me and played mental games with myself.  If you want to talk to important people, you have to feel important and act confident. If you don't, they won't treat you like you are important.

Days 2-4 (Internet technologies, software, materials and electronics) were much more productive for me as I became acclimated to being in a group of important people.  It also helped that the presentations and technologies were much more interesting and fun, which makes more room for chit chat and small talk.  Lesson learned - the easiest way to start a conversation is with chit chat. duh…

After a rough start, I felt like I finished strong. The self-esteem took a hit on day 1, but I slowly built it back up by the end of the week and finished with much more than I started with.  This was a nerve racking week, but I managed to get a few business cards and make some connections with a seemingly intimidating crowd. This is something I can build on…

I guess its safe to say that I've officially had my networking cherry popped.