When you go networking, you will be meeting a lot of people.
The event you are at may be crowded with little room to move.
However, you must be aware that everyone has a Personal Space or Comfort Zone.
Personal space is the area surrounding you in which other people should not physically violate; if they do, you will begin to feel uncomfortable and insecure.
The amount of area required for any given person is subjective; someone who is accustomed to busy city life, tends to be more tolerant of others impeding on their personal space, than someone who may live in a more rural area.
Everyone has this personal space or comfort zone.
At any networking event, be very conscious of people’s comfort zone.
Invading someone’s personal space and standing too close can be very disconcerting.
· Intimate Distance: 0 – 18in (0 – ½mt)
Lovers and children – used for embracing, touching and whispering.
· Personal Distance: 1½ft – 3ft (½mt – 1mt)
Close family and good friends
· Social Distance: 3ft – 10ft (1mt – 3mt)
Acquaintances and people, who we don’t know very well
· Public Distance: Over 10ft (Over 3mt)
Strangers, public speakers
Be aware that different cultures have different definitions of their own comfort zone.
Northern Europeans and Americans are comfortable in the 3ft to 5ft zone; Italians and many Mediterranean cultures are more demonstrative and stand much closer; Japanese also have much smaller comfort zones, whereas the Australian concept of personal space is much larger.
When meeting someone for the first time, it is good manners to shake their hand and then step back half a pace, so that you are not too close.
If they move that half pace towards you, this will signal that they are comfortable with the talking distance between you.
Personal hygiene can also affect the personal space you create around you.
If you have just had a strong curry for lunch, the person you are talking to, may not find your garlic breathe to be pleasant.
There is also the theory that the more senior or affluent a person is, the larger their personal space becomes.
The CEO always has the largest office!
The comfort zone surrounding two people is also affect by gender issues:
Two women talking together will have a smaller space between them than two guys talking together.
If a man and a woman are talking together and they don’t know each other very well, they will have a larger space between them, than if they are comfortable in each other’s company and they know each other.
Don’t forget that extroverts will be comfortable with a smaller comfort zone, but introverts make like more room around themselves.
Remember – that personal space is personal; and making other people feel comfortable is the secret of great relationship building and one of the cornerstones of great networking.