Just Turn Up: You Never Know What One Room Could Lead To

5 Nov

There’s something I’ve noticed after helping organise event after event for the Hastings Business Women’s Network.

Sometimes, the hardest part is simply turning up.

You’ve worked all day. You’re tired. Maybe the kids have been chaotic. Maybe your business needs you. Maybe you don’t know anyone going. Maybe you’ve looked at the event and thought, “I’m going to feel so awkward walking in there by myself.”

Or maybe you’ve thought:

I’m not really a networking person.

Turn up anyway.

Because you genuinely never know what one room, one conversation, one introduction — or one decision to put your hand up — could lead to.

Networking Doesn’t Have to Mean “Networking”

I think sometimes we make networking sound much scarier than it actually is.

You don’t need to walk into an HBWN event armed with business cards and a perfectly rehearsed elevator pitch.

You don’t need to sell yourself to every person in the room.

And you certainly don’t need to be the loudest or most confident person there.

Sometimes networking is simply sitting beside someone you haven’t met before and saying hello.

It’s asking, “What do you do?”

It’s discovering that the woman across the table has experienced exactly the same challenge you’re currently facing.

It’s someone remembering your business three months later when their friend asks for a recommendation.

It’s meeting someone who eventually becomes a client, collaborator, mentor, supplier, referral source, or a really great friend.

And sometimes you simply go home feeling a little more motivated, connected or inspired than you did when you arrived.

That matters too.

I Nearly Wanted to Take My Hand Back Down

I still remember coming along to an HBWN event with my sister.

At some point, the opportunity came up to become the Events Coordinator.

I put my hand up.

And I swear, almost immediately my brain went:

“Shit. How do I take that back?”

What had I just volunteered myself for?

I certainly wasn’t thinking, “In a few years I’ll happily stand at the front of a room full of women, lead events and organise them from scratch.”

But that’s exactly what happened.

Three years later, I’m now standing in front of those rooms.

I’m helping come up with the ideas. Finding speakers. Working with our sponsors. Organising venues. Planning the details. Sending the emails. Promoting the events. Then standing up on the night and helping lead them.

Start to finish.

And somewhere along the way, something else happened too.

People got to know me.

Not just my name. They got to know who I am, what I do, what my business does and what I can help people with.

I’ve met so many people through HBWN that I may never have crossed paths with otherwise. I’ve made genuine friendships, built connections and had business leads and opportunities come my way simply because people now know me.

Not because I walked into that first event trying to sell myself.

Because I kept turning up.

And because one day, I put my hand up even though a tiny part of me immediately wanted to put it straight back down.

That’s why I will always say:

Take the step.

You don’t have to know where it’s going to lead.

I Get to See It From the Other Side Now

As HBWN’s Events Coordinator, a lot of what I do happens before anyone walks through the door.

There are venues to organise, speakers to coordinate, sponsors to work with, topics to plan, food, tickets, timings, emails, social media and a million little details that hopefully nobody notices on the night.

But once the event starts, one of my favourite things is watching the room.

Because that’s when the part we can’t plan happens.

The conversations.

The introductions.

Someone spotting a familiar face and waving them over.

Someone saying, “Come and sit with us.”

A new member arriving nervous and, half an hour later, laughing with people she had never met before.

Someone hearing a speaker say something that was exactly what they needed to hear at that point in their life or business.

Those moments aren’t on my event run sheet.

And yet, they’re probably some of the most important parts of the night.

Keep Turning Up

There’s something to be said for not just turning up once, either.

Relationships take time.

The first time you attend, you might meet three people.

The next time, you recognise them.

The time after that, they introduce you to someone else.

Eventually, people know your name. They know your business. They know what you’re good at. And when an opportunity comes up, they think of you.

I know that because I’ve experienced it myself.

That’s the part of networking we don’t always talk about.

It’s not necessarily about walking into an event and walking out with five new clients.

It’s about building genuine relationships.

And that happens by continuing to show up.

What If I Don’t Know Anyone?

This is probably one of the biggest reasons people hesitate to attend networking events.

So, from the person helping organise the event, I want you to know something:

We want you there.

Come by yourself.

Tell us it’s your first event.

Tell us you don’t know anyone.

We will introduce you.

There will almost certainly be someone else in that room who was nervous about coming too.

HBWN isn’t a room you need to earn your place in.

Whether you’ve owned a business for 20 years, have just registered an ABN, work for someone else, are building a career, have an idea scribbled in a notebook or simply want to meet more women in our local community, there’s a place for you.

Take the Step

Some of the best opportunities don’t arrive in an email with OPPORTUNITY written in the subject line.

They start with a conversation.

A coffee.

An introduction.

Someone saying, “Actually, I know someone you should talk to.”

Or maybe even putting your hand up for something and immediately thinking:

Shit. What have I done?

Do it anyway.

Because I can tell you from experience that the woman who first walked into an HBWN event with her sister isn’t the same woman who’s now comfortable standing at the front of that room.

That didn’t happen overnight.

It happened because I turned up.

Then I turned up again.

I met people.

I got involved.

I put my hand up.

I took opportunities even when they pushed me outside my comfort zone.

And three years later, I’m very glad I didn’t figure out how to take that hand back down.

So next time you see an HBWN event and think:

I won’t know anyone.

I’ve had such a big week.

I’ll go to the next one.