If you give you might get the chance to take
Recently, longterm member Selma Prodanovic showed how the Network has worked for her and gave many examples of valuable connections she has been able to make both professionally and personally
At the last WCN general meeting we a had a wonderful networking session. We all had the opportunity to meet each other by moving from table to table. I know quite a few of the women there (no wonder I've been a member for 8 years!) but what was really striking were the connections between these women.
For example at the September meeting in 2003 I met Hanne Rohrauer who worked for bfi. Through her I went to an interview at bfi. The outcome was a training for Greenpeace which Sandra Goering (Campaigners and volunteers coordinator at Greenpeace) attended where I told her about WCN and she was a visitor at the last meeting (became a member now, and her boss Monika Hubik will visit the next WCN meeting).
Susanne Rehak (WCN Trainings Coordinator) organized a training I did for WCN (Presenting myself). Among others Maria Varga and Renate Ackerl participated in the training. Maria Varga (Post AG) gave me some very valuable tips on a personal mentor.
Renate Ackerl is the financial manager at STA Travel. When my school (Tourismusschule Wassermanngasse 21) organized a "potential employers & pupils meeting", I informed Renate about it and a representative of her company joined us.
At the networking meeting in September 2003 I met again Erika Walker after almost 8 years. Erika and I used to work for sister companies and had lost touch over time. Erika was a visitor and it turned out she had started her own creative agency LKW. I needed a name and logo for my company, so we met once more and I became her (very happy) client. Erika is now a member, and Edita Lintl (Creative Designer at LKW) also became a member.
Or Christina Orisich, who was a visitor at the last evening. Through this "get-to-know" session I found out she does some very interesting things and we have quite a lot in commom, so we met already outside WCN and this meeting might turn into more.
These are just a few of my "WCN stories of connections" within the Network but definitely not all. Women like Caroline McLaughlin, Sybille Laubscher, Mickaela Moore, Jutta Höllriegl, Petra Rössler, Daniela Weitensfelder, Birgit Bauer, Gabi Kluck, Edith Stohl, Helen Addison, Camilla Torna and many more, influenced or even changed my life in a positive way and I would like to use this opportunity to thank them for their support.
The connections between members of a network can be represented through a networking graph or matrix and it would be very interesting to research who within the WCN has connections with whom and what do they do with it.
I must admit that being involved in the work of WCN (for example as member of the steering comittee) has helped me a lot to connect with a great number of members. In other words if you give you might get the chance to take.
-Selma Prodanovic
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