General Counsel Corner – Always Be Networking, Especially During the Holidays

It is hard to believe, but the start of the silly, I mean Holiday season is upon us.  Over the next few weeks for the first time in a while due to Covid, you will be attending parties and seeing people in person.  While you might not want to think about it, the Holidays are a great time to network.  You never know what will come about from your conversations, but here are a few tips that may be of use:

1. Do not go to Holiday parties trying to get business.  It comes off as very “salesy” and is a big turnoff for people that you talk with.
2. Ask open ended, but targeted questions.  People in general love to talk about themselves and asking about them is an easy way to keep a conversation going.  You might learn a little about their business as well.
3. If you are having a good conversation, ask if you can follow up after the holidays and make sure you do.  People will generally respect the follow through.
4. You don’t need to attend all holiday parties but be ready to be at a lot of them.  These are a great time to meet new contacts and reconnect with those that you have not talked with in quite some time.
5. Last, but not least, when you are in a conversation, remember that you have two ears and one mouth….use them in proportion.

Other than that, below are some helpful holiday related networking articles:

• Holidays Are The Perfect Time To Reach Out To Your Network (forbes.com)
• 5 Tips to Rock Your Networking Events During the Holidays | Inc.com
• 14 Tips for Successful Holiday Job Searching and Networking – Thrive Global

A few things that may be of interest:

• ACT NOW: Lease Accounting Standards / ASC 842 – Stambaugh Ness (11/30/22; 12pm-1pm EST)
• Election Explainer: Results in Key States (nfib.com)
• Economic Review: November 2022 – Silvercrest (silvercrestgroup.com) (thanks to Sean O’Dowd for sharing)
• SALT: Forgotten State Tax Considerations – Stambaugh Ness (12/6/22; 3pm-4pm EST)

As always, please don’t hesitate to email myself (jsanders@mpl-law.com), Andy Miller (amiller@mpl-law.com), Christian Miller (cmiller@mpl-law.com), Erik Spurlin (espurlin@mpl-law.com), Brad Leber (bleber@mpl-law.com) or anyone in our office with questions or comments.  

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