At the next conference you run, allocate an hour for table sessions.

Divide the number of attendees by 10. That’s how many tables of ten you need. Give each table a theme or topic (entrepreneurship, shoe collectors, whining about the economy, whatever). Post the themes online for people to sign up in advance for each table. First come first served, you don’t get to see who’s at the table till you get there.

A month after the conference, do you think people will remember the table where they spent an hour? When you force people through mild social anxiety, they thank you for it later.

[Thanks, Kip, for the germ of this idea].