4 X 4 Networking Challenge January Planning

4 X 4 Networking Challenge January Planning If you have been reading my blog, you  know that  my goal in 2011 is to knock down  my barriers to networking by  participating in the  2011 Networking Challenge.   I am excited to strengthen my current  relationships and meet new people in 2011!!   As promised, I am going to keep you updated on how I am doing in the challenge.   Also, there are quite a few other ambitious career girls who are joining me in the challenge for the new year.   Wont you? I have narrowed down the people that I would like to meet with in January and have contacted each of them.   Many of them have not gotten back to my yet which is making me a little nervous!    But, I think this is just because  people are still catching up from the  Holidays and hopefully I will be hearing back from them soon.   What I am realizing is that the most important thing is to plan ahead so I dont get stuck at the end of the month trying to fit in all the meetings!   I  hope that the  first month will actually be easy because there are plenty of people that I have been meaning to meet up with for the past few years. My first step was to make a list of everyone that I could think of that I wanted to have coffee with.   I was actually able to create a pretty long list so here are the people that I am choosing to contact this month for a meeting: 4 People I Know: A boss at a previous  internship (Date: Jan 14th) An  coworker at  a previous  job  (Date: Jan 21st) A friend I went to high school with (Date: TBD) Another coworker from a previous job (Date: TBD) 4 People I Dont Know: A Senior HR director at a Life Science Company (Date: TBD) An HR Manager at a technology company that a career counselor  recommended I contact (Date: Jan 4th) I will be attending an American Society For Training and Development  Association meeting  where I wont know anyone!      Getting involved in associations and membership groups is very important in networking and  I am  hoping to make many contacts at this meeting to do future  information interviews. (Jan. 26th) TBD: Still looking!! Who do you need to meet for coffee? If you would like to join me in this challenge for a month or a year, leave a comment below.