Film-style poster for the One Good Talk presentation

A guide for alumni mentors A guide for alumni mentors

How to make a single conversation count, and open your network without burning it.

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What this guide covers

Why one talk matters

Acquaintances move careers

Across 20 million people, acquaintances, not close friends, led to the most job moves.

20 million LinkedIn members in experiments over five years: moderately weak ties led to the most job moves Rajkumar et al., Science, 2022

Questions first

Ask for their questions in advance

Two questions sent ahead let you bring the stories that answer them.

Send me your two most important questions. One line, before you meet.
How do I get into consulting? Too broad: ask which part.

A 25 minute plan

Plan twenty five minutes

Five minutes on their question, fifteen on your experience, five on one next step.

25 min

Minutes 0 to 5Their question, in their wordsMinutes 5 to 20Your experience, the honest versionMinutes 20 to 25One next step and one name

Introductions

Ask your contact before you introduce

Check with your contact first, then forward a short email the student wrote.

1

You ask your contact Happy to meet a student exploring energy policy?

2

They say yes Sure, send them my way.

3

The student writes A short email you can forward

Nobody is surprised

Someone better

Point them to someone better

When the question is outside your field, a name helps more than a guess.

I am not the right person for this, but I know who is. A referral is still help.
I would guess that… A guess sounds like advice.

Doing it on Mentornity

Make room on Mentornity

A few open slots and a short note are all one good talk needs.

Open a few slots

Even one evening a month gives three students a talk.

Busy hours stay closed

A connected calendar hides the times you are busy.

Leave a visible note

The student gets your next step by email.

Join program events

Register and the calendar invite follows.

Open a few slots

Even one evening a month gives three students a talk.

My availability

Istanbul (GMT+3)

Weekly Availabilities

Set the hours that repeat every week.

Every Monday 09:00 – 12:00 Zoom · Gives 6 meetings of 30 min
Every Tuesday 14:00 – 16:00 Google Meet · Gives 4 meetings of 30 min
Every Wednesday 13:00 – 15:00 Mentornity Video · Gives 4 meetings of 30 min Add
Every Thursday 10:00 – 11:30 Microsoft Teams · Gives 3 meetings of 30 min

Busy times in your Google Calendar are closed to bookings.

Start Time13:00 End Time15:00 Duration of each meeting30 min

Meeting Format

Mentornity VideoZoomGoogle MeetMicrosoft Teams

Save

Susan Whitfield Mentor

Wednesday, March 11

Mentornity Video · 30 min

13:0013:3014:0014:30

Meeting scheduled

Busy hours stay closed

A connected calendar hides the times you are busy.

Leave a visible note

The student gets your next step by email.

Meeting notesEmily P.

Visible noteEmailed to the participants at once Emailed

Agreed: lead the next team update, rehearse on Thursday.

update-outline.pdfUp to 10 files

Hidden noteOnly you and the program admins