Making friends with people is like a skill which needs to be developed. You can start by developing the right mindset and saying hello and good morning to more people and see how they respond to you however, one of the best ways is to plan a party. This can include the people who you already know and ask each of them to bring two people who you have never met. They will usually persuade at least one person, but if you ask for one additional person, you can guess the outcome. Use a guest list App to get their basic contact details and confirm the numbers well in advance. Depending on the scale of your party, you will have enough time to greet all the strangers and make a good impression. During the party, you can refer to the guest list and leave some brief comments next to the name of a guest who impressed you. It will be too difficult to remember all the information if you wait until the next day, or drink too much. The idea is that you now have a list of useful names which you can add to your social network and follow-up to make friends.
When making contact with some of the people from the party, you may wish to suggest going out for drinks. It helps if you come up with some exciting suggestions as they are also assessing you, just as much as you are curious about them. Most of my favourite places have excellent views and the above photo is taken from the Sky Bar at the Trafalgar Hotel. I also like Skylon which is overlooking the Thames. The service is good and everything is well presented.
You can arrange to meet anywhere that you like, but it is better to score as many points as possible in the early rounds of a friendship. If you have good listening skills, this will be useful. There are over 300 different languages spoken in London from many cultures and you can bet that the people you meet will have an exciting story to share. You can share the most relevant parts of your experience and this will help to form a bond. Most people like the company of others with a common interest or someone who can help or become a useful contact. After a while, you will build a larger social network and be able to hand-pick the guests for your next party. I attend many parties in London to perform with my band and you can easily tell which ones are more about networking than celebrating. What’s special about London is that there are many hotels with good bars where you will find a comfortable space to have drinks with friends. You will also get a quality service and a clean glass; the wash rooms will also be in good condition. In my experience, this is better value than going to a crowded bar with a louder ambience, average service and no seats. It is worth paying a little extra for the comfort and quality.
Please leave some comments if you found this post useful and share any advice on making friends in London.
