Also a good point. I'm old enough to remember when a gathering for the purposes of networking was really about collecting business cards. It seems like they end up in the trash more than ever, these days (which makes it tough for me to show people what I do since I'm anti-social media and wear many hats, but that's another blog post).

In all honesty, though, I'm the type of person who would actually show up to knit. Networking tends to be an annoyance, to me, but I also forgive it since I understand that it can be important and lead to some great opportunities. When I meet people, I usually don't ask about what they do for work. That will come out in the natural course of conversation if the person enjoys what they do. If not, then I'd rather talk about something else anyway. Typically, I like to start with people's hobbies and interests. In my experience, you get a deeper connection that way.

Perhaps doing away with the "networking" mindset is the key? We have to find a way to make the focus on the experience, as opposed to forced meetings/relationship, which work mixers tend to feel like.

Using a real example from my own life, I went to a basket weaving class once. It was fun, but not something I wanted to pursue as a regular hobby. However, while there, I met the spouse of a practicing blacksmith and found out there is a network of "folk craft" people in my state doing really interesting things in terms of keeping the old traditional methods alive but incorporating modern materials. That saw me attending some blacksmithing classes and forging a few of my own knives.

It was all about the experience I was having with the people around me, through which relationships and talk of our careers naturally developed, leaving me to want to continue to keep in touch them.