Virtual Networking Globally During Covid-19
Last year when I chose to pivot my career from Graphic Design into UX, I had no idea how my life would be during Spring 2020. As an extrovert, I felt isolated and alone, but not for long! I of all people know the power of networking, reaching out, and nurturing friendships.
2020 has been an epic year for many. As an empath it breaks my heart to see people scared, suffering, and unsure of the future. I’ve always had an energy inside me where on my best days I can spread positivity, smiles, and hope! It’s my gift to you all, and I’ve been doing my best to shine and go into “lift each other up” mode, because I know we are stronger together!
I’ve had the pleasure of going to MANY virtual events around the world, meeting inspiring people, awesome Designers, and sharing laughs and encouragement. It all started with Covid but it won’t stop. In no particular order I’d like to share some highlights of my virtual networking journey!
Wine + Chat
This Rise event was sponsored by Winc wine club! You’ll notice myself in the left corner, (Newport sunset in the background) holding my parent’s dog. This lovely women’s chat event lifted my spirits in more ways than you could imagine! They sent all attendees two bottles of wine courtesy of Winc!
Stories of Resilience
I found this event and RSVP’d very late notice, and was psyched! Brené Brown is one of my inspirational heroes and seeing/hearing her talk live was just the support and encouragement I needed to keep hustling. Thank you Salesforce!!
Let’s get Phygital
This outrageous high energy event was early on in my virtual networking journey, sponsored by Alyce. The speakers were super enthusiastic (notice their sweatbands?) they made my day, and even did a short song and dance. After the event they sent me a gift of a cute mini bluetooth speaker!
Her Future Summit
In response to Covid, Global Startup Ecosystem put on a virtual summit with 100 speakers! During this I got to witness Hanson Robotics Sofia! For those who don’t know, Sofia is the most advanced human-like AI robot in the world. She was out of this world; she smiles and even makes jokes! Upon entering the “stage” she joked that this was the first conference she’d been to that was “pants optional.” Her talk blew everyone away…
StayXStayHome
This 2 day event by GSD with Georgie was unforgettable. The screenshot above was taken late on the last day. After attending the previous day, I had just found out 30 mins prior my grandpa died. Turning to my community for support I wiped away my tears, and logged back on to find this wonderful crew of people who helped lift my spirits! Shout outs to Remo, for being the best platform to host virtual events (in my opinion).
Basic Accessibility Fundamentals Bootcamp
This screenshot was particularly hilarious to me for personal reasons. Early in my job search I interviewed with this company (in little Rhode Island), who was pointed out as an example of being inaccessible to screen readers, gahhh! The speaker had us go to this page alone, and asked us to tab through, in which we were all blocked. Then he showed us in their code how simple it would be to change this flaw. It was a completely random example, Deque an MI based company helped me celebrate my first Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and I’ll never forget it. LOL.
There are certainly many more events I’ve attended in cities around the world, and in odd time zones! Since putting myself out there in the interwebs for my career (and sanity) I hit 1,000 LinkedIn connections last week! I’ve sent a personal message to every person I’ve connected with, even if it’s short. It truly makes a difference! If I’m ever feeling low, I scroll down into my messages thinking, who should I get to know better? I make it a point to get to know everyone, a little message or hello goes a LONG way.
