One of the things that I had hope to achieve during the course of the certificate that you're enrolled in is to give you a sense for what it's like to be a student here at Rice University. So today, we're doing some work on location, and I'm standing right now in the middle of the academic quadrangle with the statue of William Marsh Rice behind me. He was the benefactor who donated the money that led to the creation of the University.

Today, we're going to practice the initial meeting interview, a technique that you might use when you are meeting somebody for the first time who is a potential networking candidate for you. We'll look for those things that you ought to practice as you meet somebody new. So now, let's see if we can find somebody on campus to ambush. [MUSIC] Hi, I'm Dave. Do you have a few minutes that I can chat with you? >> Of course, my name's Jenna. It's nice to meet you, Dave. >> Jenna, pleased to meet you. I've seen you on campus walking backwards with large groups of people? >> Yes, that would be me. >> What's that all about? >> So I am a tour guide for the Welcome Center, which does tours for both middle and elementary school students and VIPs, either from diplomatic corps to presidents of other universities who want to see the campus.

>> How do you get to be a tour guide? >> So there's two different types of tour guides, actually. There's one through the admissions office, which does the typical tours for high school seniors and juniors and their parents. And every semester or so, they send out the application to all the Rice students. And basically, if you love Rice, apply here. And you do a quick interview, and then they give you all the training needed to be a tour guide. And then for the Welcome Center, it's pretty similar. >> Okay, well, Jenna, from time to time, I host special visitors on campus, and I was wondering how would I go about arranging a tour for them? >> If your special visitors were not high school juniors or seniors or prospective students looking to come here, you would contact Sarah Fina Van at the Welcome Center. And she'd be more than happy to arrange that for you. She'll set you up with a tour guide. And the nice thing about the Welcome Center is that we can do personalized tours. So I've done 30 minute tours for elementary school children, because they don't really have attention spans longer than that and given presentations. But I've also done hour and a half tours for presidents of universities who want to see like every aspect of campus. So you can really personalize your tour with the Welcome Center, so if you wish to do so. >> So if I wanted you to give a tour for some of my visitors, how would I reach out to you so that I got you for my guide? >> You would probably just tell Sarah Fina, you could probably request me. And if it's on a day that I can make it because I only work Tuesdays, Thursdays, because there are other tour guides who, I promise you, are equally good- >> Okay. >> Who work other days, who can do your tours well, if it doesn't match up. >> So if I'm on a Tuesday or Thursday, just request you and you're okay with that. >> I'll be there. I'm very excited about that. It's very flattering. >> Okay, well, great, well if you need to reach out to me for anything, here's my business card. >> Well, thank you very much. >> Before contacting you and seeing you again around campus walking backwards. >> Well, it was nice to meet you, Dave. >> Nice to meet you, Jenna. >> Have a wonderful day. >> You too. Now that you've had a chance to view the personal greeting interview, and we're back in the studio, we can take a fresh look at this via instant replay. [MUSIC] Remember that we talked about the greeting, where we're focused on the stance, the voice, the handshake, eye contact, be aware of those as we look at the video. Also, make note of the conversation we have where we establish points of mutual interest.

Then be on the lookout for how we close the conversation, how we set up the opportunity for potential future interactions. And then lastly, make sure that you catch how we manage agreement on any potentially follow up from this particular conversation. So with that in mind, let's take a look, a fresh look at this particular conversation.

As I begin to find a candidate, identify one here, let's stop here. Note as we approach here that I identify myself, I try to do this in a non-threatening way. I make sure that she knows my name and what my position here is on campus. So we'll be on the lookout for that. But before we progress to that, I'd like for you to notice, in the background here is my colleague Gayle Moran, you're going to meet her in the second course on communications.

So again, look for the verbal greeting and the handshake. Dave do you have a few minutes that I could chat. There, okay? And what you see again is a firm handshake. Okay, but not so firm that I crush her hand. We don't want to do that. This is a customer greeting in American culture. And so we'll move on from here. Chat with you. >> Of course, my name's Jenna. It's nice to meet you, Dave. >> Jeanna, pleased to meet you. Let's stop there. Notice that she gave me her name.

Okay, so I now know that her name is Jenna,

and I going to want to try use that later on in our conversation.

Notice also here that we're starting the precedent for the rest of the conversation to have good, mutual eye contact, not staring but maintaining that eye contact. And so let's move on. I've seen you on campus walking backwards with. Here I'm trying to establish I've seen her before, and I wanted to follow up on having seen her before. >> Which does tours for both middle school and elementary school students and VIPs either from diplomatic corps to presidents of other universities who want to see the campus.

>> Let's stop here and what you're seeing is I've started to use some gestures

to help reinforce the points that I want to make. I don't want to overdo it too much, but I do want to

show that I'm actively listening and that I'm engaged in this conversation.

Be on the lookout for any nonverbal gestures that I'll be using, and in particular in this conversation, for any particular head nods that I use to acknowledged that I understand the message that she's giving me. So let's move on. Tour guide. >> So there's two different types of tour guides actually, there's one through the admissions office which does the typical. >> And let's stop here. And what's interesting to note in this particular conversation, and you may observe this too on your own, is that Jenna is actually mirroring some of my gestures. Not only the gestures, but the eye contact as well. And I think you will find that as I smile, she does too. So let's move on. >> This is for high school seniors and juniors and their parents. And every semester or so, they sent out the application to all the Rice students. And basically if you love Rice, apply here. And you do a quick interview, and then they give you all the training needed to be a tour guide. And then for the Welcome Center, it's pretty similar. >> And again, let's stop here. Back it up just a little bit, there we go. All right, and again, you can see the eye contact, the mirroring of expressions and gestures, and what I think is really fascinating about this is that you can see that my candidate here Jenna has great school spirit. So let's move on from here. Okay, well Jenna, from time to time, I host special visitors on campus, and I was wondering how would I go about arranging a tour for them? >> If your special visitors were not high school juniors or seniors, or prospective students looking to come here, you would contact Sarah Fina Van. >> Let's stop here for a moment. So it's interesting to know in the video productions that you can occasionally have what I call a wardrobe malfunction. What is going on here? That's I guess what happens when I don't wear my course studio shirt.

Let's move on. >> At the Welcome Center, and she'd be more than happy to arrange that for you. She'll set you up with a tour guide. And the nice thing about the Welcome Center is we can do personalized tours. So I have done 30 minutes tour for elementary school children, because they don't really have attention spans longer in that. >> And at this point in the conversation, I'm anticipating that the conversation is going to come to a close. We have something of interest here, something in common, and I may want to establish how to follow up, and let's stop there.

Okay, so again, I was using the gestures to emphasis the points I was making, the eye contact, and I'm going to make sure that I know how to contact her when I need to, that she knows how to reach me, and that that is okay with her. So let's proceed. For some of my visitors. >> Okay. >> How do I reach out to you, so that I got you for my tour guide? >> You would probably just tell Sarah Fina, you could probably request me. And if it's on a day that I can make it, because I only work Tuesdays, Thursdays, because there are other tour guides who, I promise you, are equally good- >> Okay. Who work other days, who can do your tour as well if it doesn't match up. >> So if I'm on a Tuesday or a Thursday, just request you, and you're okay with that? >> I'll be there. I'm very excited about that. It's very flattering. >> Okay, well, great. Let's stop there.

Okay, and back it up just a little bit.

And we notice here we have the smile, great, the eye contact.

And the gestures and the message that I'm receiving here is that

when I asked about establishing a follow up for our particular conversation here, she's okay with that. And all of the signals, verbal and nonverbal, suggest to me that that's going okay with her, and you're going to want to look for those same things. Let's proceed. Okay, well, great. Well, if you need to reach out to me for anything, here's my. And we'll stop there. And here, I gave her my card as a way for her to reach out to me if she wants to follow up with me in any way. And you may want to consider doing something very similar.

Okay, then let's move on. >> Thank you very much. >> For contacting you and seeing you. And lastly, as we begin to separate, we do the handshake again, it's always appropriate. Again, not too firm but strong, and we're going to close, making sure that we leave on a friendly note with a smile, so let's see that. Thank you, Jenna. >> Have a wonderful day. >> You too. Go back there, one more little forward. There we go, so here we have the smile. Obviously, you want to leave on a positive note. [MUSIC] That brings us to the end of the interview. I hope you saw in this interview examples of the things that you're going to want to replicate in contacts that you have as you build your professional network. Remember, the greeting, stands, posture, voice, the handshake.

The conversation trying to establish items with mutual interest. The close and goodbye where you're going to establish that it's okay to have an ongoing contact, and then make sure that you have a way that you can follow up with each other. Again, I hope that you are able to use this particular tool as you extend your professional networks on your leadership journey.

Tool box - Personal Networking

Self Awareness and the Effective Leader

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