My sister gave me a Harry Potter–themed scarf as a present. It’s beautiful, soft, and comes in the Gryffindor colors: red and gold. It even has the house logo embroidered on one side. If you adjust it right, you can have it show up on the front of your collar.
Last winter was the first time I regularly wore the scarf. Within a few days, I noticed a surprising pattern: People wanted to talk to me about it. Like, everywhere. “Is that a Harry Potter scarf? That’s so cool!” I heard over and over again.
At the Christmas market, people yelled in passing: “That guy’s wearing a Harry Potter scarf!” Young girls pointed at it and giggled. My baker asked me if I was Harry Potter. Even the receptionist at the orthopedist double-checked: “That’s a Harry Potter scarf, right?” At the coworking space, I ended up in a five-minute conversation. “Are you actually a Gryffindor man?” this senior startup guy wanted to know. He even recommended some fan fiction I’d never heard of.
All told, I was approached about my scarf at least 10 times over the winter. I didn’t try to turn any of those interactions into serious business, but if you had asked me beforehand what the best networking tool was, a Harry Potter scarf wouldn’t even have made the list. I figured it was just another awesome token of nerdiness for me to wear, like many of my favorite t-shirts. But, as it turns out, other people are nerds too, and as soon as you connect on a shared joy, you’ve got stuff to talk about!
Of course, not every franchise is as popular as Harry Potter. I get much fewer inquiries about my Steins;Gate t-shirt, although that, too, sparks conversations: People want to know what the teenagers in lab coats stand for. In both cases, curiosity drives people to speak up.
The best way to network is rarely to go where everyone else wants to network as well. It’s to express yourself in a new form and see how folks react. Grab some merch from your favorite franchise. Add a unique accessory to your backpack. Share your ideas and creations online for others to see, or attend an event you’re genuinely interested in.
Poetry slams, live music at the pub, and Harry Potter fan meetups all outrank the biggest industry conference in my book. After all, what’s a million flimsy connections against one with whom you genuinely click?
