I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Working in Hockey networking event hosted on January 29 by Nick Bowins. With many more events in the future, here is my experience and what you need to know if you attend an event with them!!
Before we get started on the need-to-knows of the event, let’s start off by talking about how amazing Bowins is at communicating about the event. Before I even purchased my tickets to the event, I reached out to Bowins to inquire about the dress code and what the event entails. He got back to me within the next couple of hours, which was shocking to me because it was early evening when I emailed him. Along with that, he kept ticket holders updated consistently leading up to the event.
This was my first-ever hockey/sports networking event, and it was such an amazing experience! There were all sorts of people there: college students, people who graduated, and people who work in the industry. When I first got there, I was reasonably nervous. I had no idea who I was going to meet and what the event was going to be like, but luckily, I ran into a group of girls (Hi guys!) who were extremely welcoming and just some of the nicest people! We eventually wandered around to talk to others from our group, and everyone was absolutely the sweetest. Getting to talk to others who want to go into the field and those who are in the field was just so eye-opening to all the different types of people in the industry.
Along with the networking event, the ticket was also for the game that night. So this event is perfect if you want to dip your toes into networking in hockey and love the sport in general. It was so fun getting to sit in a group of people who love the sport as much as I do, and getting to talk about the current goings-on in the hockey world at the moment.
So, if you ever want to attend one of their networking events, here are the things you should know:
- What to Wear
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The email that was sent about a week before the event, and the email I personally sent Nick, highly encouraged attendees to dress professionally, but it was not a requirement. I decided to dress professionally, yet there were many others I talked to who wore jerseys, and some who brought them to wear for the game portion of the event. If I were to change anything, I definitely would’ve brought a jersey to wear to the event. I will say that my favorite part of my outfit were my Penguins nails from the Glamnetic NHL connection. I think small details like that are such a great conversation starter.
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This one is more obvious, but make sure to have your LinkedIn or something that people you meet can contact you with if you make those connections. There were many forms of this: people brought their own business cards, tap cards that had all their information on them (this was the coolest way I saw), and of course, LinkedIn and phone numbers were all exchanged. With that being said, make sure your phone is charged because you will be using it in most cases to exchange information.
- What to Bring
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Other than a way to connect with the people at the event, what else should you bring? This is one that varies from person to person and arena to arena. Personally, I only brought my phone (with tap to pay on it), lipstick, and nail glue (the essentials). Yet others brought their cameras, professional and digital, their resumes, and cash. Personally, I would look into what is allowed at the arena where your event is being hosted, because that has a major impact on what you can bring.
- Confidence
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This is probably the most obvious one. Bring confidence in yourself. You will be giving the same speech about your name, what you wanna do, if you’re in college, and your major over and over. There were so many different types of people in different stages of life from all around the U.S. and Canada. You are guaranteed to meet someone who might make you feel that you are behind or not doing enough to get into the sports industry. That’s not at all true; attending this event or any networking event in sports is a big thing. Do not lose hope in yourself or what you want to do because you meet someone who seems more qualified for the job you want than you are. Making these connections is what matters in this field; knowing what you want to do for work is a huge step that not many have made. You never stop growing or learning in this field, and it is important to keep that in mind at this and any networking event. Remember you do not need to come into this event being perfect.
I will be talking about this event for a long time. It was such a fun event and has been my favorite thing I have done so far in my sophomore year. If you want to follow Working in Hockey to see if they will have an event near you, they can be found at @WorkingInHockey on all socials. I highly recommend you attend one of these events if you can. If there is another one in Pittsburgh, you are most likely going to find me there.