Home topics small-business-resources women-in-business-entrepreneur-profile Women In Business Women In Business Better networking key to women’s success in business Gina Baldassarre April 16, 2012 Finding a job or getting a promotion is no longer about who you know, but who knows you, which makes networking a vital skill for women to master. This is the premise of a session on successful networking, which will be part of the Women, Management and Work conference at Macquarie University this July. “The ability to collaborate, to share information, and to connect are the three most important things we need to thrive in business,” networking strategist Julia Palmer told Dynamic Business , who will be running the session. As chief executive of the Business Networking Academy , Palmer was inspired to pursue speaking about networking after her experience in the events industry. “I was at a trade show, a conference, a networking event two to three times a week, and in the course of doing that all around the world, what I noticed was that there was a real disconnect between buyers and sellers,” she said. “Obviously they were there to connect, but they just didn’t seem to know how.” Palmer believes successful networking is a learned skill, and that diving in without a networking plan is the biggest mistake people make. “People just go out looking for results without realising how to actually create a connection or relationship first. Most people don’t have a networking plan, and therefore their activity isn’t aligned to any