Old School Networking

I went to a networking meeting today and was treated to a fine display of old school networking. You know the kind, where you ask the question "What do you do?" and you get whammed with a sales pitch. This didn't happen just once but several times.

There were also people busily moving from one person to another, checking out their name badges, thinking "Do I want to talk to this person" or more likely (can I sell to this person), having a brief conversation, handing out their business card and then moving on. Admittedly there were a lot of new people there so perhaps they've not learnt the etiquette of networking or the reality of good networking habits.

Right at the end someone I hadn't met at all, was rushing round, shoving their sales material in front of everyone in case they missed out. "Hi, this is me, give me a call, bye"

It was a shame because there was a nice buzz about the place but if that's what I'm going to be subjected to at each meeting - either I won't go or I need to brush up on my diversionary tactics.