FIRST
TAKE
INFINITE
NETWORKING
By Andrew King, Editor-in-Chief
T
he 2020 edition of Canadian Music Week (CMW) is com-
ing up fast and we’ve got some exciting things in the
works for the event itself, running May 19-23, and our
May/June issue of Canadian Musician, which we’ll be
giving away at our booth throughout the Music Sum-
mit. One of the articles lined up for that issue is on maxi-
mizing your investment in music conferences like CMW.
A huge component of these events – and, subsequently, a sig-
nificant focus of that feature – is the power and potential of good,
proactive face-to-face networking. It goes without saying that music
conferences offer prime opportunities for such relationship-building,
especially with initiatives like one-on-one industry “speed dating”
sessions becoming increasingly prominent.
But as organizers incorporate more formal programming con-
ducive to networking, it can come off as a compartmentalized and
isolated component of the event whereas really, every moment you
spend in the vicinity of the conference, host hotel, showcase venues,
and beyond is an opportunity to expand your contact list. Zoom-
ing out even further, there’s nothing stopping you from networking
anywhere, any time, and often, the more unexpected or unusual the
encounter, the more memorable it is and more productive it can be.
On the Ground
Our publisher, Jim Norris, is a sought-after presenter at conferences
and other industry events. One of his oft-repeated bits of advice when
addressing a room of people is to have them introduce themselves
and exchange business cards with those seated around them. The
point is that many attend panels and workshops in hopes of connect-
ing with the delegates on stage right after, which is well and good,
but they’ll subsequently ignore their peers in the room – business
owners or service providers that could help them or fellow artists
navigating the same industry and looking for solutions to similar
challenges. The fact that they’re in the room with you means they
take their careers seriously and are likely open to mutually-beneficial
idea sharing and collaboration.
You’ll often see little breakout groups of people outside of the
meeting room before or after a given panel, and it’s not hard to get in
on that action. Basically, if someone has their badge around their neck
or name tag stuck to their shirt, they’re fair game. Like you (hopefully),
most delegates are looking to extract as much value from their invest-
ment as they can, so it’s almost like your foot is already in the door.
There are often booths for companies or organizations directly
serving or adjacent to the music industry, and even if one doesn’t look
relevant to your particular goals, it could be of interest to someone
already in your network, in which case you can score some easy points
with a referral. What’s more, that individual has likely spoken with all
kinds of other delegates throughout the event, and might have a
connection or recommendation for you based on what they’ve seen
or heard, so why not introduce yourself and get some info?
Even outside of the conference proper, you could meet someone
relevant to your career waiting to grab a beer at an evening showcase,
or in line for a coffee the next morning to counteract the effects of
said beer. I’ve connected (or reconnected) with contacts waiting for
bags at the airport and even at an ONroute service station along
Highway 401 heading into Toronto for a conference.
Year-Round
Networking opportunities abound at and surrounding these events
because of the concentration of industry types in a specific place at
a specific time; however, every opportunity for human interaction is
an opportunity for professional networking.
One day during high school, I was visiting some friends at the
“rival” school across our country town of about 5,000 and ended up
staying for a school-wide assembly for kicks. That assembly featured a
student I didn’t know performing a truly incredible turntable scratch
routine – a big surprise considering country and hard rock were the
more typical soundtrack in our area, not to mention the degree of
skill and showmanship on display. I approached him later on with
some kind words but, being pre-Facebook, that was the extent of
our interaction.
About a decade later, early into my stint as Editor of Canadian Musi-
cian, I got a press release about the new DMC World DJ Champion – a
Canadian named Vekked. In another totally random encounter, I met
Vekked at YYZ a week or two later and struck up a conversation. When
he told me he was from a town about 20 minutes from where I grew
up, everything clicked. I then way-too-excitedly explained how we’d
met during high-school and that his performance had stuck with
me since then. We knew a lot of the same people and traded a few
stories, then contact info. In the years since, Vekked has become a
frequent contributor to CM and ultimately boosted our credibility in
the turntablist community.
Another acquaintance from high school (actually the younger
sister of my younger brothers’ friends) works with an established Ca-
nadian artist management firm, and we try to catch up every year
at – you guessed it – CMW. I’ve had drinks with the tour manager
of a major arena-touring rock band during his holidays on Prince
Edward Island thanks to a mutual family friend and talked shop with
a relative of the CEO of one of the world’s biggest music companies
at a beach-side bar on a Caribbean holiday. All of these have led to
tangible benefits for me or the magazine.
These examples only cover analog face-to-face networking, which
represents just a small percentage of the opportunities for connec-
tion and dialog we’re now afforded; still, there’s huge value in that
kind of in-person, face-to-a-name networking, and that value can be
extracted at virtually any time, so long as you’re poised and prepared
to take advantage.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 9