The Art of Mingling: Proven Techniques for Mastering Any Room [Paperback]

Jeanne Martinet (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 31, 2006

Does the idea of going to a large party make your palms sweat and your mouth go dry? You are not alone.  Many people suffer from minglephobia, a secret terror of large parties. Jeanne Martinet's tried-and-true cure is her unique system of techniques and strategies for overcoming social fears.  Now you can relax and thrive at any business or social event! 
 
Updated with dozens of brand-new field-tested tricks, tips, lines, and maneuvers, The Art of Mingling will teach you:
 
* Basic Survival Fantasies for the Truly Terrified
* The Flattery Entree
* The Fade In (and the Fade Out)
* The Human Sacrifice
* The Cell-Out
* The Hors D'Oeuvre Maneuver
* The Dot-Dot-Dot Plot
* The Quotation Device
* The Quick Change
* The Faux Pas Moi
* And much, much more!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jeanne Martinet's amusing guide contains nifty ideas designed to get the flower off the wall and into circulation." -Letitia Baldridge
 
"Martinet has developed techniques for working any event with ease."
- Chicago Tribune

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jeanne Martinet is the author of The Faux Pas Survival Guide; Getting Beyond Hello; Come-Ons, Comebacks and Kiss-offs; Artful Dodging; and Truer Than True Romance. She lives, writes, and mingles in New York City.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Revised and Updated edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312354312
• ISBN-13: 978-0312354312
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 67 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I had hoped August 20, 2008

By Sarah

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I liked the introduction, in which the author talked about her friends asking her how she had managed to talk to everyone at the event they had just been at, while they had failed to mingle. She does give a few useful tips in the book, but don't buy this book if mingling is not, for you, an end in itself, as it is for the author. If, for example, you want to improve your mingling skills in order to make friends, this book won't help at all. The book might help you learn to meet everyone in a room, spending 30 seconds or one minute on each person, but the sorts of things she suggests you say to people made me cringe. Her system will help you meet people who are the most confident and who are fellow mingling lovers, but if you want to put people at ease so that you can discover who might be someone with whom you might like to create a friendship, her suggestions will prove counterproductive. If you want to mingle to make friends (or at least not to destroy any hope of making a friend or two) read the excellent book by Don Gabor, How To Start A Conversation And Make Friends. Finally, The Art of Mingling actually makes the author sound rather shallow, silly and even narcissistic (and believe me, I have nothing against finding ways to get away from the party bore with bad breath who has you cornered, etc). Disappointing, unless, for you, mingling is an end in itself.

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mingle All The Way December 16, 2006

By RRRRRR

Format:Paperback

I heard about this book in the Style section of the New York Times and was immediately intrigued. I'm one of those guys who SEEM outgoing and outspoken (when I'm with my friends), BUT throw me in a mixed party or work function and I totally clam up. For closet shy types like me, this book is extremely helpful, full of clever ideas, and a lot of fun to read. The author is extremely witty, sometimes silly, but always insightful. Her greatest revelation is that most people at parties are thinking about THEMSELVES, not YOU. Just this week, I got a chance to try some of the author's advice at a couple Christmas parties and gosh-darn-it. It worked! I stopped worrying about trying to impress people and actually managed to relax and have fun. Very cool. Check it out.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Excellent exits February 24, 2009

By Steven B. Bowling

Format:Paperback

I'm so glad the author included a lenghty chapter on various means of escape, because if I ever meet a group of people like the author, I will want to escape from them as quickly as possible.

Also, avoid the audio version at all costs. It's painful to listen to.