Since today is the first day of Kindergarten for my oldest daughter I thought it only appropriate to write something related to that. One of the first things she'll face a room full of new kids that she doesn't know. Not too different then what you might experience when you attend a new networking event.

Lots of people struggle with a crowd of new faces. In fact my daughter is probably better prepapred because she hasn't spent years and years worrying about these experiences, nor has she had the concept that strangers are dangerous drilled into her head for her entire childhoold [A very pessimistic concept I don't think I'm a big fan of]

Dealing with a room full of new people whether there are a dozen folks or several hundred is really the same. Just like eating an elephant it happens one bite at a time. Or in this case one new friend at a time.

Don't worry about the sheer number of people in the room. It all starts with one new relationship. "Hello" will be your most powerful weapon here. In most cases everyone else wants to meet new people as well, so you already have implicit permission to walk up, say hello and introduce yourself. Start that first conversation and begin that first relationship. Now there are two of you and you can work on meeting the rest of the people in the room together.

When I had this conversation with my daughter that's exactly what we talked about. She can be particularly independent and at one point this summer told my wife she didn't need to make any friends at Kindergarten. So we talked about how she would find a "buddy" today. Just one. A simple first step on the first day of school to make it less intimidating. Though I know her well enough to know that once she gets a little more comfortable she'll probably have 3 or 5 buddies before she knows it. The same is true for most of us. We just have to get started.

Happy Networking!