How to Introduce Yourself at a Networking Event in Two Sentences

Someday someone is going to ask you at a mixer what you do, and you will have seconds to respond to that inquiry.您可以创建一个由三部分组成的介绍，列出您的姓名、您当前正在从事的工作，然后提供其他人可以进一步询问的某种详细信息，而不是仅仅列出职位名称或为尚未找到工作而道歉。 You then hand the conversation back to the other person and ask them a question about themselves. It can all be said aloud within two sentences.

Below are sections explaining how one might build such a line, how one might revise it for use at a career fair or for a conference talk, how one might use such an introduction as a student, and finally how to continue after having introduced oneself to another person.

Build your introduction from three parts

Start with your first name.如果活动是正式活动或者您希望人们能够在活动结束后找到您，请添加您的姓氏。接下来，说明您当前的重点，可以是一个工作项目、当前的学校课程、您试图解决的问题等。这可以让对方了解您目前的情况以及您要去的地方。

End with a hook.这是一个引发后续问题的具体细节。 An example is below for a first jobber:

Your job title tells them where you sit at work.然后你可以添加一个你现在在工作中试图解决的小问题。在活动之前写下您自己的版本，以便您可以在将其交给某人之前进行练习。

Fill in your three-part introduction

Hi, I'm [name].我是[角色、年份或领域]，现在我是[当前的具体焦点]。 [Question about them]?

姓名+

在正式活动中或当您希望他们稍后找到您时，加上名字和姓氏。

role, year or field+

您的工作、您的年级和专业，或者您正在寻找的工作类型。 Keep it to a few words.

当前的具体焦点+

One concrete project, problem or class from this month.使用你花了一个下午的最后一件事。

关于他们的问题+

Tie it to your hook, for example: Have you run into anything like that where you work?

Swap a vague introduction for a specific one

因此，许多初次介绍时不会写“我是山姆。我从事营销工作。”例如，它们可以包含更多这样的内容：“我是 Sam。我在一个小型护肤品牌的电子邮件团队中工作。我一周的大部分时间都花在测试新闻通讯的主题行上。”

Here is the same person with one piece of the work named.

具体并不一定意味着令人惊叹。在大多数情况下，一个简单、诚实的关于你自己的事实会比你在社交活动中使用的一些夸张的职位更有趣。因此，在上面的示例中，听众可以询问哪些主题行获胜，该品牌的客户是否打开电子邮件，或者 Sam 工作的小型护肤品牌的团队规模有多大。

你的钩子也可以是你最近花了一整天时间做的事情。它可能有点具体。

相同的介绍，两种方式

太模糊了我是山姆，我从事营销工作。 具体我是萨姆。 I'm on the email team at a small skincare brand, testing subject lines.

Turn your introduction into a question about them

Now it’s your turn to ask questions about this other person’s work. In order to connect their stuff to your hook, you simply rephrase your hook as a question about their experience.例如：

有研究表明，向他人提出更多问题的人更容易受到对话伙伴的喜爱，即使事先被告知要问很多问题¹。 This is possibly because your questions draw the other person out to talk about themselves, which most people like to do. The researchers also found that people do not expect the number of questions that they ask to affect how others perceive them¹。 Note, however, that all of this research was conducted in online chats or on speed dates, and none of it at networking events.

另一项研究还发现，人们愿意放弃少量金钱来谈论自己，而不是回答有关他人的问题。当人们回答有关自己而非他人的问题时，他们平均损失的金钱是其潜在收入的 17%²。 This study, however, had small sample sizes and was looking at people’s opinions on particular topics, so do not read too much into this.请记住，在大多数情况下，人们喜欢谈论自己。

从简介到他们的故事

1. 
   山姆

   嗨，我是萨姆。我刚开始在一家物流公司担任初级分析师，我试图找出为什么我们的交货预估总是晚一天。

2. 
   乔丹

   哦，我知道那个。我是乔丹。我在一家杂货配送初创公司从事运营工作。

3. 
   山姆

   那么你可能见过更糟糕的情况。你身边最难得到的数字是多少？

4. 
   乔丹

   库存计数。应用程序说我们有牛油果，但货架上却另有说明。

5. 
   山姆

   你怎么抓住它？抽查，还是有人标记？

Adjust it for the room

Whichever order you choose to present them in, be sure to present all three parts for every instance of introducing yourself (e.g. for every mixer, happy hour, for every instance of attending a seminar/meetup, etc.).

• 混音器或欢乐时光。 A few words introducing yourself to people standing around a bar is a ‘light’ introduction to your work. Mention your hook for conversation and add in your employer name when they ask.
• 主题聚会。 Every person shares the subject matter, so focus on how you use it, a side project or how many of these kinds of events you have attended.
• 会议会议。 The talk you went to for the conference is your hook, thus: “I’m Sam. I came for the pricing talk because we’re planning our first price change.” As both of you are likely to refer to the pricing talk, this is a good starting point for both of you.
• Career fair line. Typically, there are people behind you at a recruiter’s table. Start with the field you’re in and state the specific job for which you are looking. Then mention something about their company and end with a question about the role for which you are applying.

At a career fair table, that might sound like this:

Introduce yourself as a student or without a job title

Your title or area of focus for the discussion may be your current class, thesis, internship search, or even a skill that you are trying to teach yourself. Simply describe what you are studying and what problems or questions you are trying to solve or answer within that study.

Skip saying you are “just a student” because that sentence asks the other person to reassure you before they have a chance to find out more about you. Jordan might say:

If you are between jobs, state the kind of work that you are looking for and give an example of recent work that you have done to prove that you are going for that kind of work.您正在学习的课程、您从事的自由项目或您参与的志愿者角色都是近期工作的例子。

加入已经在讨论的小组

接近正在谈话的 2-3 个人，站在谈话的边缘倾听，直到出现停顿。介绍一下你自己，告诉他们你的名字以及你联系他们的原因。这可以很简单，比如说你听到他们提到某个特定的公司，或者你听到他们谈论某个演讲。例如，“很抱歉插话，但我是 Sam，听到你们谈论这个特定的定价谈话。”

当您加入正在进行的讨论时，顺序会发生变化。跳到他们的讨论主题的末尾，然后只提供您的名字以及您过来的原因。

倾听足够长的时间，看看他们的谈话自然停顿的地方，然后开始说话。请注意，这只需要一个非常简短的总结，说明您是谁以及您为什么要接近这群人。当其他人转向与您交谈时，可以进行完整的介绍。

Practice your line before you walk in

今晚，在手机上写下您的介绍的三个部分。练习大声说出介绍的三个部分，进行几次排练，然后写出第二个版本，供招聘会或小组进行自我介绍。写下一个您可以在每个版本之后提出的问题。如果您有时间，请练习自我介绍并与场景伙伴一起用 Quippy 提问。

如果您有时间排练，我建议您与 Quippy 中的场景合作伙伴结对，完成您的介绍，并练习介绍后提出的相关问题。

来源和参考文献

1. Huang、Yeomans、Brooks、Minson 和 Gino (2017)。提问并没有坏处：提问会增加好感。人格与社会心理学杂志113（3）。通过在线聊天认识陌生人以及面对面的快速约会；在简短的交谈后测量伴侣的喜好；没有在专业社交活动中进行测试，而且影响的是对话中的人，而不是观察者。
2. 塔米尔和米切尔（2012）。披露有关自我的信息本质上是有益的。美国国家科学院院刊 109(21)。小实验室样本（例如，货币研究中的 n = 37）回答平凡的意见问题；表明人们重视谈论自己，以每次试验的美分来衡量，而不是在活动中的真实对话中。