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How to make networking marginally less awful for introverts.
如何让社交活动对i人来讲没那么可怕（上）
Corporate life throws up some stressful moments. Bringing bad news to your boss; facing an interview panel; making a big presentation.
有时职场生活会出现一些让你倍感压力的时刻：比如给老板报告坏消息、参加小组群面、做重要的展示等等。
But few things are worse than networking if you are an introvert. You arrive at an event to find that everyone there apparently knows each other already.
但如果你是一个i人，可能对你来说没什么事比社交还让人害怕了。当你来参加一个活动，结果发现在那儿的每个人都似乎已经彼此认识了。
And then you look more closely and spot the fellow-sufferers. They are the people who are actually reading the conference blurb. They look at email on their phones with greater intensity than ever happens at the office.
然后你仔细看了看，发现了和你一样在现场备受煎熬的人。他们真的在认真阅读会议简介。他们在手机上查看电子邮件，比在办公室时还要专注。
They endlessly circulate the room, like bits of plastic in the ocean waiting to be snagged on something. They take a seat in the main hall while the sound engineers are still testing the microphones. Fortunately, there is advice out there on how to break the ice with strangers. Unfortunately, it's abysmal.
他们在会场来来回回转个不停，就像漂浮在海洋中的塑料碎片，等着被什么东西钩住。音响师们还在测试麦克风时，他们就已经去主会场里找到位置坐好了。幸运的是，有一些建议可以帮助你与陌生人破冰。不幸的是，这些建议糟糕透顶。
One sage counsels making contact in queues, because it is easier to talk to the person in front of you and behind you. You are meant to ambush people on the escalator, in the toilets and in the queue to get your name tag.
一位智者建议在排队时与人搭话，因为与前后的人交谈会更容易。这就意味着你应该瞄准那些正在乘坐扶梯、用洗手间、排队的人来搭讪。
In the line for coffee, open the door to jobs and sales by saying six incomprehensible words: "Juicing up for the big keynote?" On it goes. Don't be afraid to laugh, because nothing drains the tension from a room like someone who cannot stop chuckling.
在排队取咖啡时，可以说一句 "给演讲提神吗？"虽然这六个字令人摸不着头脑，但却可以打开通往工作和销量的大门。还有别的建议。不要害怕大笑，因为没什么能比一个开怀大笑的人更能缓解房间里的紧张气氛了。
Bring personal information into the conversation, lest people think you are at a conference on treasury-management software only for commercial gain. Use the other person's name twice, to appear truly engaged. And take notes on conversations afterwards so you can follow up with them.
聊天时透露一点个人信息，免得人们认为你参加这个关于财产管理软件的会议只是为了获取商业利益。反复提及对方的名字，以示自己对这场聊天的全情投入。聊天结束后还可以记下谈话内容，以便后续跟进。
Add these ingredients together, and you have the recipe for success:
把所有这些建议融会贯通，你就有了成功的秘诀：
"Juicing up for the big keynote?"
"给演讲提神吗？"
"What?"
"什么？"
"Juicing up for the big keynote?"
"给演讲提神吗？"
"I don't know what that means."
"我不知道你在说什么。"
(Scan name badge) "Keith, is it?"
(扫一眼对方的名牌)"你叫基思，是吗？"
"Er, yes."
"呃，是的。"
(Laughing) "I'm having a baby, Keith."
(笑着说)"我孩子要出生了，基思。"
"Keith?"
"基思？（你怎么走了？）"
(Take out notepad)
(拿出记事本)
If this is how to network, no wonder people go to the main hall early. Making contacts on a site like LinkedIn is a lot less stressful. There is no eye contact, after all, and the rules of the road are agreed. And all those connection requests do appear to help with careers.
如果要这样社交，难怪人们提前就去主会场了。在领英这样的网站上建立人脉压力就要小得多，毕竟网上无需眼神交流，交流规则也是一致的。而且那些添加好友的请求也似乎确实对职业生涯有所帮助。
A paper published last year by Karthik Rajkumar of LinkedIn and co-authors from academia found empirical evidence for the insight that underpins all kinds of networking--that, because they bring you new information, more infrequent and distant relationships (or "weak ties") are more useful than close contacts.
来自领英的卡蒂克·拉杰库马尔和学界的合著者去年共同发表的一篇论文发现，经验证据证实了关于"不同社交方式都共同遵循的底层逻辑"的洞见----即，由于不太频繁、距离较远的关系能给你带来新的信息，所以这些关系（或称"弱关系"）比强关系更有用。
