I was at a social event the other evening and my attendance counts as a couple of months’ worth of socializing for me. Not that I’m antisocial … okay maybe I am, a bit … but I also want to maximize the returns on my socializing.

That is, if I’m going to go out somewhere, I want it to count.

I’m talking about strategic socialising here. If you approach your socialising strategically you can maximise your exposure and minimise your need to actually go anywhere.

The event I went to the other night was at The Calile Hotel in James Street, Fortitude Valley. Now if this isn’t the most fashionable coolest place in Brisbane to be seen I’ll be a Dutchman’s Uncle, as my father used to say.

So, for a start I get points for just being seen there. The event was part of the hotel’s cultural program which is coming along nicely. This one featured the superstar artist Lindy Lee, who is from Brisbane originally although she now lives across the border in that other state, I’ve forgotten its name.

She was in conversation about her major work Ouroboros, a massive sculpture being made here in Brisbane at Urban Art Projects at Northgate. It is for the National Gallery of Australia (good luck getting it there as it weighs several tonnes) and NGA director Nick Mitzevich was at The Calile Hotel to chat to Lindy in front of an appreciative audience that included everybody of note in the visual arts scene.

Now attending an event such as this is handy because in the space of two hours (we were out of there just before 8pm) I got to meet and greet enough people to last me for months.

In this business you need people to know you are still around and that can be exhausting but not if you are, as I suggest, strategic.

All you have to do is smile, shake some hands, do lots of little waves and thumbs ups across the room and then basically you are done.

So, for me targeting key events across genres is the way to go. If I go to the first night of a popular ballet, I know everyone will be there and that’s great. If I go to some obscure event and no-one knows I’m even there, it’s not quite as useful.

Getting to the theatre early is a good idea because then I can do my social networking before the show just in case I don’t make it past the interval. It happens.

I have toyed with the idea of getting dressed up, getting there early, saying hi to everyone and then, as they are all going into the theatre, ducking off without even seeing the show. I haven’t done that yet but I’m keeping that one in my back pocket just in case.