July 2007 - Institute of Videography

Part 13 - NetworkingI hope last month’stechnically-based articlewasn’t too much for you.Anyway, I’m getting back tomore familiar Cookie-territorythis month with a look atnetworking and the role thatit plays in developing yourbusiness.In previous articles you’veheard a lot about ‘networking’from me, but what does it reallymean? It’s generally commonsense, but there are aspects ofnetworking which might not beimmediately apparent.Nevertheless I’m going to dealwith all aspects of industry-basednetworking. You might betempted to skip this month’sinstalment - but please don’t.It’s probably those that thinkthey know all the opportunitiesthat are missing the chance tocapitalise on this easy way toexpand your business.Sole TradersOne of the drawbacks ofvideography is that you’ll oftenbe working in isolation.Camerawork is not somethingthat you can do whilst happilychatting away with yourworkmates or colleagues.Editing is the same, in that it’ssomething that you have toexclude yourself from externalinterferences to enable you toconcentrate on the job in hand.The truth is that videography,in its purest form, is a solitarytrade. The end product willgenerally be created by anindividual or small team ofpeople. Compare this to abuilding site – where allcraftsmen work alongside eachother (though not alwaysharmoniously) and generallybenefit from their contact andexchange with each other. Youdon’t even have to move that faraway from videography towitness a collaborative market asboth the film and TV productionindustries will be made up ofliterally hundreds of associatedcraftsmen brought together toachieve a single end product.They will often cross-promoteeach other or at the very leasthave a team of complimentarytradesmen that they would preferto work with.Videography simply doesn’thave the same networkingpotential. It’s therefore verydifficult for the videographer tonetwork on the job. There are, ofcourse, exceptions to this (multicamerashoots and collaborativeprojects) – but generally speakingthe only occasions where you’llget the opportunity to networkare industry-based events andmeetings – plus some of the lesspersonalised methods coveredlater on in this article.Can’t Mix – Won’t Mix!The videographer’s almosthermitic existence is not onlybecause of the nature of thework. There are some whochose not to mingle because ofan inherent distrust of thecompetition. The fear of havingtheir clients stolen, or havingothers tap into what someconsider as unique knowledge orinformation, keeps some of youfirmly locked away in your ownlittle world. I’m not saying thatevery videographer is like this –but I’m also sure that there willbe some reading this that’llrecognise themselves and others.I’m also sure that there aresome videographers who are thisway not because of any fears ofbusiness espionage, but morebecause they are the introvertedcreative sort who find socialinterchange far too intrusive ordemanding. Again, not allcreative people are this wayinclined, but there’s astereotypical type who will findface-to-face communication alltoo much.Having now completelydecimated the good character ofmost of the industry, I hope toconvince even the most lost ofcauses that networking withothers in your trade can deliverboth financial and creativerewards.There are opportunities tomix – you just have to putyourself out a little. www.iov.com Focus Magazine August 2007 23