Over at TheChangeBlog is a great post about How to Sharpen Your Networking Skills.

Jonathan Mead has 10 Tips for Effective Networking.

wakeuplater writes about 5 Mindsets to Reshape Your Networking. I like this part:

Instead of fitting people into your goals, find out what their big dreams are, and try helping them out.

JibberJobber has Thom Singer’s 66 Tips for Better Networking (the complete list!).

Chris Garret posts Thoughts on Reciprocation, where should the line be drawn?

In Make Your Network Links Strong Like Bull is a really good point:

How often do you follow up from a networking event, or a Social Networking connection by asking someone what you can do … FOR THEM? How often do you offer to give first, without asking for anything in return?

For more on networking, see my Networking Tips.

Personally I am not too keen on calculating a money value for my network. I get more from my network than a business value.

There is a post titled 3 ways to make networking work, a good post about networking valid not only at LinkedIn.

JibberJobber allows you to track the relationship with each person in your network and log information about your contacts. Keeping track of your contacts and actively working on your entire network could be the most important thing you do to help you land your next job.

A good place to start finding out more about JibberJobber is by reading JibberJobber Is For… WHO???.

Jason Alba has a post titled Twitter – Effective Networking Online? that is a good read on this phenomena.

Brent Hodgson sees Twitter from a business and marketing perspective in his post titled How Do You Profit From Twitter – Does Twitter Make Sense?.

Requesting a specific action and providing a specific benefit are very important – Tell people what you want from them so they can give it to you.

This is line with the method for introductions we used at our XING Oeresund BC After Work last Tuesday. Everyone got a minute to introduce themselves plus say what they wanted/needed. I think it worked really well, it is a good conversation opener since others get a chance to help you.

An “elevator pitch” is a quick and concise way to communicate who you are, what you’re trying to do, and why you do it better. Another explanation is that an “Elevator Pitch” is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your company that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator.

Here are some tips for creating an elevator pitch:
1. Assume low buildings.
2. Put a tag on it.
3. Solve a problem.
4. Turn adversity into opportunity.
5. Lay out the benefits.
6. Conclude with a call to action.
7. Make it tangible.
8. Show your passion.
Read more at Fast Company.

Some more links:
15SecondPitch
Your Elevator pitch
3 steps to a great elevator pitch
Mastering the 30-Second Pitch

Their definitions of the word network makes you think:
Network (n): a group of people that are all well-known by a person.
Network (v): helping people that you know get what they need and want so that they will feel compelled to reciprocate.

• They don’t include a photo on their profile page
• They don’t fill in their profile
• They don’t post on group discussion boards
• They do not practice the four essentials of the likeability factor
• When they post they don’t put their URL into their signature.
• They make it a mission to collect as many names as possible
• They don’t follow up with the contacts they have made.

Krissy expands on each of these mistakes in her article at Seven Mistakes People Make When Networking Online.