On Wednesday, September 16th CREW Boston members gathered at DLA Piper's Boston office for a night of speed networking.  A joint event of the Mentor Committee and the Rising Leaders Networking Group, the evening started with brief testimonials from Holly Nelson, Senior Vice President with U.S. Trust, and Joanna Murray, Asset Manager with TA Realty, about their experiences in last year's mentor program where they were paired together.  Both having had a great experience they encouraged others and especially those that could be mentors to join this year's program.
 
Following this pair, Karen Hurd, Vice President at Sperry Van Ness, spoke about networking and the importance of developing a strong elevator pitch.  A well-practiced elevator pitch should identify who you are, who you work for, and explain what you do, plus engage them by describing how you can help them, all in about 30 seconds.  She also shared the findings of the recent white paper, Women in Leadership Case Studies (that can be found here).  The study interviewed ten senior-level executive women that have had prominent roles in commercial real estate and described the importance of risk taking, networking, and mentoring in their successes.
 
Armed with this fresh knowledge, a fistful of business cards, and fresh glasses of wine, we paired up with the other attendees.  In 3-minute segments we presented our elevator pitches with one another and talked about what each of us was looking for or needing.  After  each buzzer we shifted to a new person so everyone met at least nine people throughout the evening.  It was a great event for practicing and getting comfortable with our elevator pitches as well as learning more about what the different roles in the real estate industry really do.