The DC Metro area is having one of the worst winter weather seasons that I can remember (and I’ve been here 20 years now). My husband suggested I write a blog post about networking in bad weather, and I thought the timing was perfect, especially since we are supposed to get another severe winter storm today.

Bad weather cancels networking events or makes the attendance low. It forces us to reschedule meetings. School gets canceled, which can disrupt schedules. And I don’t know about you, but snow outside lowers my motivation. When it gets cold, all I want to do is curl up under a blanket with a mug of hot cocoa and a good book on my iPhone.

All of those get in the way of effective networking and business building. So what do we do?

First understand that weather does have an effect on us. The reason I want to curl up where its warm is because that’s what our long-ago ancestors did in the winter. We haven’t completely shed all those instincts and impulses.

But another instinct is to band together in bad weather. So reaching out to be with people when the snow is thick is also part of our makeup.

Here’s some ideas.

1. Attend the event anyway

As long as a networking event hasn’t been canceled, go if you can and it’s safe. Sure the attendance may be low. But the people there are the ones who are serious about networking. Low attendance means you can get a bit of extra face time with the people who count.

2. “Meet” by phone

If you’ve got a face to face meeting set, and the weather prevents one or both of you from attending, instead of rescheduling, hold the meeting by phone. Or Skype. Being on video forces you out of your pj’s and keeps you serious about business even if you can’t leave the house.

3. Get caught up

If the event on your calendar has been canceled, or the other person can’t/won’t meet by phone, you’ve got some extra time. Use it wisely. Get caught up on that project that just hasn’t gotten done. Write an extra blog post or newsletter article. When the snow melts, you’ll be busy, and having that extra article in the can might be just what you need.

4. Pick up the phone

The advantage of being stuck is that other people are probably stuck too. Is there someone you’ve been trying to contact who has just been too busy to get on the phone? Bet they aren’t so busy now. And the weather gives you an easy conversation starter.

5. Follow up

Have you fallen behind in your follow up? Being snowed in gives you plenty of time to catch up. If the stack of business cards on your desk is higher than the snowbank in your front yard, this one’s definitely for you.

There’s a few ideas to kick-start the networking when the weather bites back. I’d love to hear more ideas in the comments.

Tags: Relationship building, time management

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.