Even though Nancy’s example might appear extreme, it isn’t. I believe that more than 25% of the people who attend functions really don’t enjoy them because they feel it’s too much of a challenge to meet people. When you extend yourself to make it easier for them, I guarantee that you will have a better time at the event. And imagine being remembered as the one person who made the evening more enjoyable for them.
At every event there are people who do everything in a group. I refer to them as a cluster. This is generally because they’re not comfortable meeting anyone new, but it also prevents others from meeting them. To make it easier to meet anyone in the cluster, I’ll turn to one of them (whether I know them or not) and I’ll say, “Excuse me, but have you ever met Warren?” Of course your mixing buddy and you will trade off which one starts the conversation. You’ll be surprised at how well this technique is received. Instead of meeting one person at a time, we meet several. By the end of the evening, we’ve managed to break up nearly every cluster we find.
