Have a graceful exit at your next networking conversation

During the conference, there were a lot of 15 minutues break in between workshops and speeches. Most people used this time to grap a coffee, catch up with some old friends,
or just stand outside the door and wait. Since I was almost the youngest person at the conference, I decided to practice my networking skills and be fearless to start a conversation. Indeed, I made a few new friends by being a brave soul--most people were nice and friendly there.

However, there was a common mistake that I observed from other people during the conference: Some people forgot or did not know how to make a graceful exit of a brief networking conversation.

Let say Person A was talking to me, then Person A saw someone he knew was right by him.
Hence, Person A immediately started talking to his friend and totally forgot that I was still standing right next to him. Later on, Person A walked away with his friend without saying bye to me.

"Hello! I'm still here, and I did not suddenly became invisible."

I thought the main principle of "How to win friends and influence people" is to show genuine interest to people and give people respect. If I were person A, I would at least introduce my friend to the person I just talked to.

And then I would say something like this:

"My friend and I need to go grap something/go somewhere before the next workshop. It's really nice talking to you and see you around.

I found a good pointer on how to make a graceful exit from Debra Fine's website.

She suggested, "Once the time has come to leave a conversation leave with a smile and handshake. Tell the person how much you enjoyed speaking with them and establish a way to make contact in the future. "