One of the arts of Mixing it Up! is learning to spend less than five minutes with each person. This means you need to develop a graceful exit strategy. Remember how frightening it is for most people to be in a room filled with others they don’t know, and how easy it is to feel out of place when they’ve been left alone. It often feels as though there must be something wrong with us, or we’ve been rejected. Keep that in mind when you leave others to meet the next person.
You might simply say, “Oh, I just noticed Carl across the room, and I need to catch up with him. Will you please excuse me?”
My favorite exit is to turn to see someone I know close by and then introduce them to who I was talking with. This involves both parties and allows me move on to meet someone new.
If you’re not able to spot someone to introduce to the person when you’ve spent enough time with them, mention that by standing near the food, they will be more likely to meet someone they don’t know, because that is where the most traffic is throughout the evening.