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Networking:

You’ve planned a kick ass conference. You’re lining up the best of the best in to deliver massive value for the attendees. Let’s be honest: planning an event is expensive and a bit of a risk – and you need this one to be the “thing” everyone is dying to attend!  

I’ve got a secret for you:

Want to know how to make your event better than any other option out there? 

It starts with focusing on the attendees – your customer – and ensuring that they actually interact, build meaningful relationships, form beneficial collaborations – and then tell their friends and colleagues about it. 

Let’s step inside most events and take a sneak peek, shall we?

• Attendees gathered in clusters
• You’ve got the people who knew each other prior to the event: they’re sticking in their familiar group
• Then you have the ones that don’t know anyone, who seem scared and a bit awkward and are on the other side of the room staring desperately at the floor
• Some may even be so uncomfortable they are questioning if they should have come to your kick ass event at all (every planner’s nightmare, right?)

What if there was a way to make sure your attendees actually socialise with each other?

Imagine if your event was the one where:

• Perfect strangers are happy to walk up to each other and start (enjoyable!) conversations

• People connected in a way that wasn’t just mindless smalltalk, but was genuinely meaningful – and FUN

• The conversations extended beyond the event – attendees knew exactly how to follow up with each other, actually take action and build relationships that change their careers and lives

• Everybody knows it’s the event to attend if you want to get skills that you can use for the rest of your career – and make business friends and future collaborative partners that really make a difference

• All of this leads to YOUR event being different – and THE one people are talking about and clamoring to attend!

I’m Marsha Shandur and I am a Networking Mentor.

As a former Radio DJ with 15 years of experience speaking to an audience of quarter of a million people (and hosting live shows to crowds from 30 to 30,000) I know a lot about engaging an audience.

Having cut my teeth in the radio and music industries – both famous for being all about “who you know” – I discovered first-hand how to make genuine connections with acquaintances and strangers – without the kind of schmoozy bragging many people are terrified of doing.

I now give engaging, funny and exceptionally informative talks on how attendees to a conference can make the most of their time there – in a way that’s comfortable, fun and actually effective.

I leave my audience with tangible, practical tips that they can put into practise immediately – which will give them an incredible experience at your event.

Depending on your needs, I can give a talk that runs anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes.

I also run workshops, tailored to suit your business or industry. These can be any length from 30 minutes to four hours. 

Want to know more? Please contact me on hello@yesyesmarsha.com

Here’s what some attendees have to say about my talks:

“Marsha’s energy and enthusiasm completely shifted what I knew of networking”

“I went to my first important, schmoozy networking event last night and I was really buoyed up by remembering Marsha’s tips. At no point was I left standing on my own staring at the canapés. I couldn’t have done it without her!”

“Absolutely brilliant. Informative and fun. I loved that Marsha gave actual examples of putting it into practice, not just theory.”

“Marsha has such a spirit of fun inclusiveness that I felt immediately at ease. Since I saw her speak, I have reached out to folks that I wouldn’t have felt brave enough to reach out to before hearing her talk”

And here’s some love from the people that hired me:

“In front of an audience of 400 local, national and international music stakeholders Marsha delivered an outstanding session on how to network better within the creative industries. The feedback from all fronts was, without exception, extremely positive and the speech served as the perfect framing device for the day of music panels, workshops and events. We would not hesitate to recommend Marsha going forward for this kind of activity”
Mark Gordon,
Programme Development
Generator Northern Ireland 

 

“Marsha’s great sense of humour put everyone at ease and made networking with one another a fun experience. The networking tips and tricks she gave were useful right there in the room and will be useful in many rooms to come. Those attending agreed that Marsha’s talk was interesting, fun, and most importantly, useful.”
Cassie Price
BioLinc Coordinator
Brock University | Goodman School of Business 

“I’ve been to a few networking workshops before and they have always been a bit cringey and they tell you to say things that are completely unnatural and uncomfortable.

Marsha’s workshop was funny and warm, not patronising.

It was great how Marsha tailored our workshop to suit our business and provided us with our own resource page afterwards. There was a real mix of people in our session from interns to Heads of Department and everyone took something from it.

I would recommend Marsha’s workshops to anyone who wants their staff to start talking to colleagues in the industry and outside it.”
Nan Davies
Executive Producer,
Somethin’ Else, London, UK

“Marsha Shandur is the networking guru to the next generation.

I hand picked Ms. Shandur to run a workshop as part of Toronto’s SOULO Theatre Festival in May 2014.Performers are notoriously terrified of networking, but Marsha was able to teach them ways that they can actually enjoy it. She covered both substantial mindset shifts and bare bones practicalities. In the workshop she had participants practicing techniques on each other with great results. 

Marsha’s approach is interactive and refreshing. Her material is fun, professional and very effective. I recommend her workshops to other organizations with great confidence.”
Tracey Erin Smith
Artistic Director
SOULO Theatre Festival, Toronto 

 

“A lot of people in my organisation worry about being told to ‘go and network’ as they don’t know what to do or say. During Marsha’s workshop, the delegates learned new skills and had fun (so often it’s one or the other not both) and feedback included ‘Brilliant format’, ‘I learned a lot and do not feel scared or worried about implementing any of it’, ‘I wish I had learned this 15 years ago’ and ‘I can’t believe I’m looking forward to my next conference’. 

I would recommend Yes Yes Marsha for all organisations where anyone needs to talk to anyone else, and I am looking forward to welcoming her back next year for another session.”
Nikki Beardsworth
Senior Training & Development Advisor
Notting Hill Housing, London

MARSHA SHANDUR OFFICIAL BIO: 

Marsha Shandur is a Networking Mentor – which is a fancy way of saying she helps grown-ups make friends. As the founder of YesYesMarsha.com, she shows creative people how to build meaningful business and work connections that move their career forward faster – and that feel like real friendships…because they are.

She is also a Storytelling Coach. As the organiser, curator, host of, and story coach for True Stories Told Live, Toronto’s biggest storytelling show, she has coached over 70 storytellers, taking their personal stories from a confused mess to a compelling stage or video piece. She herself has told stories at everywhere from The Toronto Storytelling Festival to Portland’s WorldDomination Summit – to a live audience of 3,000 people, and is now the conference’s official Storytelling Coach.

Throughout her career as a coach, event organiser, radio host, podcaster, author for Bloomsbury Publishing, music supervisor for hit TV shows and the kind of person who does things like running solo marathons, she has featured on Forbes, the BBC, CBC, The Art of Charm and Mashable.

Transform the way you think about networking – and see Marsha in a variety of wigs – at YesYesMarsha.com

Interested in booking me? Want to know more?

Drop me a line on:
hello@yesyesmarsha.com