Networking - #7

October 11, 2021

I can confidently say that last week was the most exciting week I have had in ISM so far this year. We had our Business Symposium! I have to say that I was pretty nervous to meet so many ISM students from all these different schools in Frisco since I did not know what to expect, but that quickly changed the moment I got off my car in the parking lot of Emerson High School. I saw so many students that were dressed just as professionally as me, carrying their padfolios, and I felt the rush of comfort at everyone's faces that looked just as nervous as mine. I was separated from my friends with the assigned groups, but I feel like this served as a good opportunity for me to connect with new people. Since I did not know anybody in my group, I was almost forced to talk to new people from other schools and learn about their topics and their ISM experience. I was able to network with a few people and exchange contacts with them for future references. I feel like my communication skills improved a lot just from the few hours I spent networking which was also the topic that many professionals brought up in their Q&A sessions. Some questions that I had in mind were "how can you more effectively reach out to professionals to collaborate with them" and "how can you make sure that you are successful as an ISM student," and many of the professionals gave "networking" as their answer. They emphasized on the importance of talking to different types of people in the professional world and making as many new connections as possible. In addition, I also had my second interview with Laura on Friday. She gave me so many advice on what steps I should be taking to study Music Business and told me to not be scared of "annoying" her if I ever needed help. She was the sweetest person ever, and she gave me amazing tips on how I should be treating ISM as a stepping stone to success. Last week was a very productive week, and I hope I can do the same this week by getting to work on my original work. I will start by researching and making an outline for my business plan, and see how everything flows from there.