You know, sometimes the best takeaway of a networking event might not necessarily be the number of name cards you've exchanged, or the number of people you meet.
There're times when the best gain of the entire evening is getting to speak to the boss of the company who organized the event there.
When it comes to networking events never mind big or small it's very seldom that one gets to meet the head honcho.
More often than not, they're busy making their rounds with all the guests who have stopped by, usually stopping to talk more with those whom they already know.
But tonight at Cuba Libre I happened to be sitting right next to someone who had, apparently, worked with him elsewhere before and so had come here to say hi, hello in camaraderie support.
I'm afraid I didn't quite manage to grasp what it was that someone was doing.
But he was, if I recall rightly, previously in Shanghai.
At our table too was this other guy whom, if I'm not wrong, was involved with an app that catered to the medical industry. He seemed to be newly in town- from Guangdong= and was, I suppose, looking around.
The two of them got talking.
And my colleague and I listened.
Not that we were quiet the entire time.
Somewhere along the way the head honcho came along and began catching up with the Shanghai guy next to me.
That's where we introduced ourselves elevator pitch style, and guess what, he got it.
Okay, so it might raise a couple of eyebrows, like what's the big deal, but let me tell you, he did not have an averse reaction to the word 'entertainment' and he got it pretty clear- in an nutshell- what it was we were doing.
And that was cool.
What's interesting, however, isn't so much that I didn't get the oft-expected reaction, but the fact that within ORBIT's portfolio was a startup who was working on a platform to connect celebrities (and their social accounts) with commercial brands (something like that)
We didn't hear this from the boss.
Instead we heard it from the startup founder who had been making a presentation over on the other side of the room only a while ago.
There were several presentations- two of which I clearly heard- but the rest unfortunately drowned out by the muffled chatter beside.
Still, a good thing it was that I got to hear what I wanted to hear, and maybe there'll be opportunities to work together next time.
It's a lovely thing if deals could be closed over something as abstract as 'synergy', but of course that's hardly, if never, so.
Synergies, and relationships, take time to build, and more often than not, begins with the first interaction.
I won't know for sure whether I'll get to see this lovely lady whom I met at Cuba Libre in the future again.
Neither will I know whether I'll get to meet the other gentleman who hailed from oil and gas.
But it was great that I got to talk to her about the insurance and corporate services she was doing, it was great that we chatted about how she used to be a teacher and civil service but decided to venture out on her own because she felt like she had to pursue a direction somewhere.
Better yet it was great that we managed to talk over Friday night drinks (mine had Coke and rum), and little plates of tapas-like food.