Meeting new people is HARD.

I’ve been going to these BossBabesATX meet ups for a while now and they’re tons of fun. They’re all about chicks empowering other bad ass chicks and I’m all about that…but how the heck do you talk to strangers?

It’s freaking hard. The first time I went, Elizabeth and I ended up having a heart-to-heart at a table by ourselves…like we don’t already hang out together all the time!

My second go-around, Stephanie went with me. We stood in the back and people-watched. Then, we left early to get food because we were starving. Another fail. But we tried..?

The third time I went, I walked in by myself. I had a friend meeting me who I hadn’t seen in a while but she was running late. Since I’d recently been laid off, I decided to be bold and give my quick schpeal for that section of the meet up. I’ve always been a performer and excel in speeches…but I’ve never been so terrified to speak for 60 seconds in front of a group than I was that night.

I was also able to pinpoint what it is that makes it difficult for me to walk up and greet new women: Girls hang out in groups.

I’d walked in and was looking around for someone to talk to, and all I saw was groups of girls. I hate walking up to a group of people because I feel like I’m rudely inserting myself into their group and interrupting a conversation they’re already having. Lucky for me, there was a girl who looked nice and somewhat familiar chatting with three other girls. I took a drink and walked over to introduce myself. As it turns out, she worked in the same building as me when I was at RxWiki. It’s not like we talk or hang out all the time now, but we did connect via social media, so this meet up wasn’t a complete waste.

But let me tell you, boy did I sleep well that night. Talk about stress.

Does anyone have any advice about face-to-face networking? Help! E-mail me at mariercarlson@gmail.com with tips, please and thank you!