Haveo · How to prepare for a networking event when you have social anxiety
What to expect at your first networking event
A room of people who mostly also do not know each other, standing in small groups, holding drinks. There is no structure and nobody is in charge of introducing you — which is the part that surprises people, and the reason arriving early helps so much.
What actually happens, in order
- You give your name at a desk and get a badge. Somebody points at the room.
- People stand in groups of two to five and talk. There may be a talk partway through, and it is usually the easiest part of the night.
- It ends earlier than you expect. Most weekday events are thinning out within two hours.
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Nobody is going to introduce you
This is the thing first-timers find hardest, and it is not a failure of the event. There is no host moving between groups introducing people.
Which means approaching is the whole skill, and it is why arriving early — when there are fewer formed groups — is worth more than anything else you can do.
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Everyone is more nervous than they look
The groups that look established usually met twenty minutes ago. The person who looks completely at ease is often the one who has been to forty of these and still dreads them.
"Is this your first one of these?" gets a yes far more often than the room suggests.
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What counts as a good night
Two conversations you can remember something specific from. That is it.
Not a pocket of cards, not meeting the speaker, not staying until the end.
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Bring three sentences
Who you are, two questions, and a line for leaving a conversation. Said out loud once before you go.
With those three, the room stops requiring improvisation, which is the part that makes a first event exhausting.
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Rehearse it before you walk in.
Haveo builds your intro, lets you practice out loud with an AI coach, and keeps your notes one tap away in the room. Free on iPhone and iPad.
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