[wjat]

If you are not feeling confident in approaching strangers to start conversations, you might be tempted to start every conversation with something like, “Hi. I don’t know anybody here and I was hoping to …”. It’s okay to be thinking that but skip over all those words as you speak and just say something like, “Hi! Are you enjoying the conference so far?” You will (usually) get an immediately warm and polite response. If you like the person, keep chatting. If it isn’t, wish them well and keep moving.