Here's an approach you might like. Let's say you go to a tech meetup. Because of the abysmal state of social augmentation tech, there are likely many people t

Here's an approach you might like. Let's say you go to a tech meetup. Because of the abysmal state of social augmentation tech, there are likely many people there who could have a good conversation, but won't. Either because they never run into each other, or they talk without knowing they have some common interest. You're in a position to help them. Assuming you're interested in people anyway, it's little extra work to explore what they're interested in, what difficulties they're encountering, and what they're looking for. And given that the population of such meetups are already filtered for common interests, my experience is you quickly hit "You know, I was talking with someone earlier who <matching interest>. Maybe you'd like to chat with them? Let's see, where... ah, over there, black shirt." No long-term state. No wrestling with wretched CRM systems. Just interesting conversations, and knowing people likely had better outcomes because you were there. And if you wish to, you also get lots of opportunity to help people towards greater clarity about what they want. "As I talk with people, sometimes I notice they're interested in the same thing, and I try to point them at each other. But I'm a little unclear on <some unclear aspect of what the person wants>." I don't always do it. But for me, I find it makes many meetups more interesting.