How to be a social success at parties

Whether you’re mingling with people at a birthday party, or attending a professional networking event, you rely on similar social networking skills. It’s definitely a learned skill, and you’ll get better with practise.

The Global Nerdy blog had some nice pointers – the main one being “Be
more of a host and less of a guest” – you’ll find it’s much easier to
get along at social events if you make the social effort rather than
waiting for someone to come up and talk to you. Here are some tips I’ve picked up along the way:
Break the ice
A great way to meet people is to introduce them
to another guest. I often offer to introduce people even if I don’t
know the person they want to meet. It makes a great way for both of us
to break the ice. Here’s how I do it. If someone says they wanted to
meet the guest speaker because they’re working on a cool idea related
to the speaker’s talk, I offer to introduce them. Then I’ll approach
the speaker, and say “Hi, I’m Sarah, I’m from [wherever I'm working for
today] and this is [friend you're introducing]. Explain briefly why
your friend wanted to meet them. You can then stay and be part of the
conversation, or say “Great, I really wanted to get you two talking,
have fun!” and excuse yourself.
People are often surprised that I’m
willing to do this. There seems to be an unwritten rule that you have
to know someone to be able to introduce them. But you don’t. And, as a
bonus bonus it gives *you* an excuse to meet the new person, and you
get a warm inner glow from helping people connect.

It’s ok to be an introvert
If
you tend to be more of an introvert and you find it hard to psych
yourself up to attend large social functions like parties, give
yourself an out. It’s ok to tell yourself you can leave after an hour
or two hours – and it gives you an impetus to actually meet the people
you need to or want to meet while you’re there. You’re the best judge
of how much social time you can take – and it’s better to go for small
doses rather than trying to force yourself to be the life of the party
and being obnoxious (or exhausting yourself).

Be yourself, and be curious
The
best advice for meeting people really is to be yourself, and be curious
about other people. No-one likes to be talked at, or to have to do all
the talking. You can avoid this by making sure that you’re talking and asking
questions to get the other person involved in the conversation. If
you’re both asking questions and learning about the other person,
that’s a good indication that the conversation is heading towards
social success. 

How to work the room [Global Nerdy via 43 Folders]