Baby Steps to a PLN (NOT)

I keep reading about how invaluable a PLN (personal learning network) can be on all the blogs I read.  Its been hard for me to make the jump from reader/lurker to commenter within my RSS reader.  All of the bloggers mentioned Twitter as the best way to build a PLN.

So I decided that building a PLN on Twitter would be a summer project.  It’s become a bit more of a need than a want in recent weeks, as I am unexpectedly job hunting (budget cuts).  So I need to learn how to network.  But I also trust it will be a valuable learning tool far far in to the future.

I started by following a hashtag for an edtech conference (ISTE) while it was in session.  OMG!  It was like building a PLN on steroids.  I’m following something like 500 people and they are twittering madly, not just about resources and sessions from the conference, but also about lunch plans, inside jokes, goals scored in the World Cup, etc.

I’ve attended a lot of conferences, but I am not a good networker.  I am actually a bit shy and introverted, especially if I don’t have a clear role (or my role is audience member and therefore I’m supposed to be quiet unless called on).  Usually  I don’t really talk to that many people at a conference.  People who know me are probably double checking that this really is my blog because they know me as a  talker in my day-to-day life.  But at a conference I’m an introvert.  In the past I’ve always been a happy camper going to sessions and exploring the booths on my own, and talking to the occasional person as I wait in line with them or sit next to them in a session.  But attending this conference virtually, via Twitter, broadened my horizons.

Twitter almost seems built for introverts to help us network.    It’s better than being a wallflower at a party and overhearing all the conversations, because you can just jump in and no one turns around and gives you “that look” that lets you know you’re not included.   My first post was actually a RT, agreeing with another speaker.  Baby steps.  But all of the ideas from the conference accelerated my networking skills and soon I was participating.

After listening in for a while, a tweet passed that made me think.

Just for fun I responded.  What I previously found overwhelming, the stream of information, is actually freeing.  I have a “role” during this conference — newbie — and that helps me be a bit more extroverted.   Amidst all these tweets I believed I would  get lost and I was OK with that — I had still taken the first step in building a PLN.

What surprised me was that the conference presenter (not the person who tweeted, a fellow learner) but the actual presenter,  responded to me.

Even more surprising within a few days I was helping somebody by answering a question.  By observing all of the other participants tweets, I had learned that PLNs require both give and take to keep them going.

The last few days have been like a crash course on PLN building.  I couldn’t help but participate, largely because my introvert barriers to participation were down.   As an introvert I thought I might be a wallflower forever.   But to my surprise, I wasn’t ignored — I was welcomed!   In addition to the above exchange, 20 different people took the time to send me a direct message, welcoming me and responding to other newbie questions I had tweeted.

I’m looking forward to continuing to get to know them on Twitter so that we build the kind of relationships I observed at the beginning of my Twitter escapade — those with inside jokes and family pictures interspersed between the professional networking.  Join me so that we both can build our networks of professionals to learn from.