Conference Networking

[Fobe]

I'm presenting at a conference next month and although I'm confident enough in my paper and presentation skills, I'm somewhat shy when it comes to mingling.  If someone comes up to me, I'll have no issue carrying a conversation, but if nobody does, I'm worried I'll just stand in a corner looking awkward.  I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for walking up to academic folks and starting a conversation.  What works for you?  It's not strictly my field (I'm history but it's a humanities conference), so I'm not sure if I'll even know anyone's work well enough to try to start a conversation based on "I loved your work on..."  Any thoughts?

[skylarking]

Late reply, but maybe this will still help you/other people. 

 

If you heard someone's presentation and want to talk to them about it, go up and ask them about it That worked really well for me last year at conferences, both in going up to people whose work I found interesting and also in having people come up to me after mine. At bigger conferences, it's much easier to mingle. A lot of it is just not being afraid to go up and talk to someone else who looks like they might be in the same boat as you. I'm going without friends this year, and while it's going to be harder, it's all just about kind of getting out there. I realize that doesn't really help much, and for the shy among us, it's easier said than done, but it's good practice for networking. The best conversations I had were ones I started with people who also looked like they were just kind of there and hanging out at the reception, so just go for it. Or, make friends with someone more ambiverted/extroverted during the early stages of the conference and just hang out with them the rest of the time. Like, a lot of the time, it's as simple as just saying "hi" and introducing yourself. It's basically always going to be like "Hi, I'm so-and-so, what's your name?" "Where do you go/what do you study?" and then going from there. 

 

Also business cards. Business cards help a lot. Finding people on Facebook and stuff is great, too, but it's always nice to have a card to give to people that has your contact info on it. 

[fuzzylogician]

This recent blog post by GMP: http://xykademiqz.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/musings-on-networking/