[blindlaw] Schmoozing

[Mark BurningHawk]

Oddly enough, I had much the same problem at musical gigs--even when I was 
the booked performer, I was unable to meet people in the audience that I 
knew were there--booking agents, etc.  The only way I found to combat this 
is to enlist the aid of people in the audience, saying something casual like 
"Wow--you're so lucky, you probably saw so and so..." and if yes, then I 
could put out the word that I'd like to speak with him--if not, then I knew 
that so and so was not there.  With musical events, it's easier to get your 
friends in, though, I suppose, so my next suggestion of inviting friends who 
know you and what you're looking for to "run interference," for you might 
not be so practical.  Another thing you might try, a bit on the unorthodox 
side, is have the person you're looking for paged anonymously, and then 
arrange to meet them when they come to the desk.  *grin* last ditch resort, 
possibly, but no pain no gain, right?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mazen" <jazenmazen at yahoo.com>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 2:32 PM
Subject: [blindlaw] Schmoozing


> Dear Blindlaw,
>
> I've been trying to figure out a good technique to manage professional
> social events--the best way to mingle in a crowded room.    Naturally 
> print
> name tags are useless.
>
> Have you brought sighted assistants with you to help find  people that you
> want to meet? Or do you randomly introduce yourself in a conversation?
>
> I've think both techniques leave much to be desired. A sighted assistant 
> may
> not recognize people , and its impossible to read everyone's name tag. 
> Also
> the social skills of the sighted assistant may not be quite up to par.
>
> On the other hand going alone and randomly introducing oneself in a
> conversation may enable you to meet some people, but if you're looking for
> someone in particular you may not get the opportunity to speak to them 
> since
> you can't find them and you end up talking to people you don't really want
> to talk to. Or you may find yourself in the embarrassing situation of
> interrupting a conversation where you're not really welcome.
>
> Option number three of course is standing and waiting for someone to
> approach you but this of course has the downside of that never happening,
> plus the problem of not finding the people you're interested in meeting in
> the first place.
>
> So, I'm curious am I the only one with this dilemma? If not, what has and
> has not worked for you?
>
> Back to billing time,
>
> M~
>
> Mazen M. Basrawi
> Associate
> Bingham McCutchen LLP
>
>


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