Make Your Mark Blog

Last night as I yet again sat on the floor of the Britain’s most crowded train, (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2498438/Britains-most-crowded-trains-named.html) the 6.15pm from Kings Cross to Cambridge wedged between 12 sweaty men in suits (no where near as fun as it sounds) it struck me that, while some peoples’ nightmare this was a perfect opportunity to network.

Since I began working at Make Your Mark a month ago there has been considerable talk of speed-networking and the importance of connecting with the people around you. Surely there must be other people on the train who would be interested in the Make Your Mark Campaign? Surely I could stimulate a few Enterprise Week events maybe even some schools for the Make Your Mark Challenge?

As I tried to sit up straight and avoid contact with an especially sweaty man behind me I eyed up who would be first potential networkee. Maybe the man squashed up against the door trying not to sit on the bunch of flowers he was holding (an idiot could have told him they would never survive the journey) or the woman precariously perched on her suitcase which I feared would topple any moment taking her and us with it? Or maybe one of the 9 motley crew of su-doku-ing, texting, newspaper reading ‘suits’?

This was my chance to be enterprising…”Excuse me” I said, a couple of them looked up but I confess, at that point I panicked “err …does anyone know if this train stops at Hitchin?” I mumbled. Feeling less like the dynamic speed-networker I’d planned and more like the tired, hungry commuter I was, I returned to my book. Ah well, maybe I’ll try again tomorrow - surely a fast train packed full of business men and women is the ultimate speed-network!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under For fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.