Join Rotary / Exchange club / Kiwanis / etc. Go to the "After hours" event from your local chamber of commerce. Do you have other kinds of meet up groups say fo

Join Rotary / Exchange club / Kiwanis / etc. Go to the "After hours" event from your local chamber of commerce. Do you have other kinds of meet up groups say for civic causes or hobbies? The public library or similar places can be a good place to learn about these. Go to the meeting of your favorite political party. Find an extrovert friend who can be your wingman. Now, the techniques... sometimes it helps to arrive early, so that as people walk in to the event behind you, you can greet them. This is much easier than walking into a room of people and trying to figure out how to insert yourself into the conversation. Come up with a line of questions other than "what do you do for work?" that you can use to engage people beyond yes or no questions. Look around the room for people who are wallflowers and use your shared shyness to break the ice. Look for the people who are the life of the party and float with them - they may help introduce you to other people just by being in the same conversation circles. All this takes time and practice just like any other skill.