Before I get started, can we all agree that coffee is God’s greatest gift to humankind?

I honestly feel depresso if I haven’t had my shot of espresso.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get started.

Since I wrote this blog post right after Thanksgiving –which we don’t celebrate over here but what the heck, right? – I would like to express my gratitude to those goats that discovered coffee centuries ago. Thank you for eating those sketchy fruits that led us to the amazingness that is coffee.

Come to think of it, coffee is awesome! It employs millions of people all over the world, from the farmers, to the marketing people, baristas… and the most important thing is, it keeps us, PR people, awake to finish all those press releases, briefing books, proposals, and other written materials.

According to a 2011 survey on the professions that drink the most coffee, PR and marketing practitioners rank second after scientists or lab technicians. In the third place are education administrators, followed by writers/editors and healthcare administrators in the fourth and fifth places, respectively.

The benefit of coffee doesn’t stop right there! There are many other benefits of drinking coffee for PR practitioners, but one of the main things coffee serves PR practitioners is a chance to build network. Networking is terrifying, but it can be fun to do over coffee.

Why coffee?

Coffee is social.

Coffee helps create great social interactions among people who could connect directly to increase productivity. More importantly, it releases dopamine, which produces euphoria and happy feelings so that coffee drinkers tend to be happier than non-coffee drinkers.

The most successful networking usually happens over coffee, whether in a fancy coffee shop or over cheap instant coffee at a local warung. A bond is formed, making the encounter a memorable, authentic, and lasting experience.

You’ll be surprised at how conversation will flow and how fun it is to share and talk about your ideas, and pick each other’s brains. The key is to listen, to understand what the other person is trying to say, and try to relate with the other person. Don’t be impatient, and remember that the goal of your ‘networking coffee meeting’ is for the other person to give you insights that you won’t get anywhere else.

Again, networking is a process and requires patience. Not every coffee meeting, or even luncheon, will lead to something, but that’s okay. You just have to be patient but persistent at the same time. In the mean time, go enjoy a delicious, flavorful cup of coffee!

*This blog post is written by Gloria Theanaputri, a PR intern at Praxis. She literally cannot function without three cups of coffee each day with an additional cup in the afternoon (sometimes). Thanks for reading my story!