What really happens at mixers? (Columbia Business School)

The study also offers a bit of reassurance to anyone who has ever attended a mixer and spent the whole time chatting with friends and acquaintances. Though many of the executives who attended the EMBA event made fewer new contacts than they’d intended, they said they valued the opportunity to strengthen their existing relationships. “Relationships have to be maintained,” Morris explains. “We can turn acquaintances into true friends by having more personal conversations than we’ve had before. Mixers turn out to be very good for that.”