So you’ve been talking to someone for ages now and it’s really time you were moving on.  But you don’t want to appear rude.  And you want to be a bit more creative than blame your bladder… so what can you say?

Well I have a number of things that tend to work well… earlier in the conversation, I will have tended to ask – “who are useful contacts for you to meet at these type of events?”

So when the conversation is coming to an end… I’ll say something like, ” I really enjoyed meeting you and if I come across any (insert useful contacts) would you like me to introduce you?”   At which point they’re incredibly grateful.  If you’re not good with names – that’s the ideal place to double check you’ve got their name right too.

Another thing I do is say something like – I’ve really enjoyed meeting you and I promised myself I’d speak to 5 new people tonight and I’ve still got quite a few to go, so I’m going to keep moving.

Other options include introducing them to someone else in the room you know they should meet.

Or you could suggest approaching another group together to meet some new people. As soon as two people join an existing group,  the larger group tends to separate into new, different conversations.  And so you’re naturally disengaged.

So be generous, gracious and good humoured!