How to escape the clutches of a clingy colleague

Making small talk with a room full of strangers isn’t easy. It’s hard not to empathise with the person who, feeling shy or awkward, clings to the first person he meets at a conference. If he happens to cling to you, here are four strategies to help you exit gracefully.

1. Introduce them to someone else

If you’ve been speaking with your new contact for a while, you’ve probably learned some key information about him, such as their company, their job, their hobbies or their hometown. If you’re at an event where you already know a few people, this may be a good opportunity for you to flex your “connector” muscles.

2. Ask who else you should meet

Despite sticking too close to you, it’s possible that your conversation partner may know a number of people at the event. If it seems like he knows at least a few, steer the conversation in that direction. “Are there people here you think I should meet?” you could ask. That can break up the intense one-on-one dialogue and enable you to connect with new people.

3. Team up to meet new people

Another strategy is to enlist your conversation partner as a colleague-in-arms. You can explain to him that your goal for the evening is to meet new people and invite them to join you. He may opt in — in which case you can focus the conversation on the new group that you’re joining — or may demur, in which case you can move on.

4. Level with them.

Plenty of people are clueless. But no one wants to keep you as a conversational prisoner. Simply take him into your confidence and explain your goals for the evening. Giving him the context of your resolution — that you’re trying to improve your networking skills — is likely to take the sting out of you terminating the conversation. In other words, it’s not him, it’s you.