Using New Year Eve parties to network with high-power people. Worth trying?

Quote from leaderoffun on December 28, 2022, 12:53 am

So far I didn't put any effort into thinking about which party I'm going. But I realized this could be a good opportunity to meet not girls but interesting, high-power people. Here's a list of options with pros and cons:

House party

Pros

- Anyone in the house is probably one connection away. Warm intros to high power people are possible, if there are any

Cons

- Even for a big house, the total number of people may be too small for a night like NYE: last house party I was in was about 40 people. For 6+ hrs of party time, this might be too little
- It's rare to have a house party with high-power people. In Berlin house parties tend to be more 'alternative', with lots of drug users. Even though the ones I've been to were pretty cool, there's always a risk of landing in one where you are out of your environment (I don't do drugs)

Businessy party

By this I mean someone who thinks only about the bottom line put together the party to seduce... well. Prospective employees, or clients. Not necessarily women. There will be 'party women' there (the ones that want to catch a rich dude, or at least an ambitious startup founder that didn't make it yet). VCs are very capable of throwing these parties. Also bigTech (with the goal of hiring someone; the cost of the party is HR/recruiting expense).

Pros

- Interesting tech people around
- Women probably are hot, the ones that go to the cuntiest places in town

Cons

- Lots of BS, people trying to one-up each other with bragging
- Lots of business stuff happening when the event should be for fun
- Women would be not the kind I like (that is they will be super money oriented)

Party that some 'politician' throws

This could be a professional politician, or someone who wants to ingratiate themselves with others who are higher power than themselves. In other words, it's all a status game.

I don't think I can get invited to these, and I don't think I can either contribute value or have fun in that kind of party, so I'll skip pros and cons

Activity-based party

This I suspect is common: people with the same hobby get together (say gym people, climbers, or in my case dancers).

Pros

- If you are already in that activity, you know everyone
- Status there is probably a meritocracy (example : if you are a good dancer, you are high status)
- People don't drink (in the couple dancing world), which is a big plus specially for that night where there will be lots of drunks

Cons

- Well, you know everyone. And most likely, you will not meet interesting, high powered new people
- Not known for being about power, so if any high powered people are there is totally by chance
- People don't drink (including women). Some may prefer women to drink (I don't) so they feel hookups are more likely while drunk

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What other parties are there? What's your experience with NYE?
For context, I'm going with a girl who comes from South Africa and will be staying for 4 days so meeting girls is not important (but a plus).