Three, Two, One—Network!

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• Slide Show: Speed Networking

Shruti Joshi Marco Radice

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"Actually, six minutes feels very short," Joshi says, revising her earlier assessment as she shuffles through the crowd between her second and third sets. "The last person I just talked to works for Accenture and they're recruiting, so that was a great contact," she adds, before spotting match No. 3. "Hi, are you David?" she says brightly, and they both launch into introductions.

At some level this feels a bit like a sorority rush—with a little more talk about product strategy. But the basic introductions are often the same, with discussions of home states and countries and career paths dominating the brief time allotment. The casual exchanges are notably devoid of strategically ambitious pitches to create new business partners. "I don't want to be calculative about it, I just want to learn something new," Joshi says, seeming to reflect the attitude of the majority in attendance.

"I'm Going to Need a Throat Lozenge"

Still, the purpose of the event seems to be served. Joshi admits that she probably would have never met someone like David Goodman, who works in architecture, when she herself is in product marketing. "I'm going to need a throat lozenge," she says as soon as the bell sounds for the break, but before she can even finish the sentence she is chatting away with another new friend.

Ethan Hanabury, associate dean of Columbia's EMBA program, says events like these are important for developing the soft skills that are crucial to business success. "You have to apply these concepts to really learn them," he says of the event. "And we do hear from people that those they meet in the beginning of the program become lifelong friends."

It's hard to tell how likely it is for a six-minute conversation to turn into a meaningful relationship, but the end results look promising for Joshi. "I'm definitely going to follow up with about five of them; one guy has my dream job, he creates new products and takes them overseas," she gushes. "He's back in August and we're going to meet!"

See slide show, for more pictures and comments from attendees.

Sonal Rupani is an intern for BusinessWeek.