National Sales Meeting First Impressions: Blending In & Standing Out

Thank God for the few people I have met through various training courses and development groups throughout the year because this whole national sales meeting thing has me feeling like I did as a kid when my parents made me go to a birthday party of  people THEY were friends with and swore since their kids were also your age it would be a great time. That may have been my first experience with the awkward forced introduction. That's what this meeting feels like so far.  The backdrop is better than that old birthday party though. Set in Orlando Florida at the Lowes Royal Pacific Resort setup jointly with Universal Studios. What's hardest blending here so far is every time you see someone you vaguely know they know someone else they have been waiting all year to talk to. These things are such reunions for the employees that have been here a while. And there is nothing wrong with that at all. The majority of the sales force works isolated all year long miles away from our counterparts sometimes with our own regions. Most of the guys minus the newbies have been with the company 15 to 20+ years and some up to 30! So when you introduce yourself for the first time to someone who sees five people they haven't seen in at least a year and they can only catch up with them every sales meeting once a year, "Marcus Combs, out of Dallas ,TX"  becomes "nice to meet you, uhh... yea excuse me (trail off HEyyy!)". From the start a few things were working against me concerning my social circle. The guy who started 7 months before I did and who I previously worked with at General Motors was let go 3 days before departure to Florida. We were the same age, scheduled on the same flight and was fired 3 days before the big trip. Then to make matters worse the second closest person I know, my boss, goes home Tuesday morning for a family emergency. My comfort covers are fading fast. That leaves me closest to a guy from California who will be my bag toss partner at the Halloween party and my teammates for my area that have been honestly working longer than I have been alive. The average age is mid 50s with one not making the trip because of surgery and most importantly no true partner in crime. The guys on my time are really great guys but I just don't know The Eagles, The Beatles, and famous 70's cowboys games the way they do. 
So in the mean time I'll work the room as I do, and enjoy the familiar faces who don't know as many familiar faces for the sometimes overly awkward period that reveals that what we have most in common is the lack of interest in striking up a new awkward or swiftly interrupted moment in exchange for the one we both stand invested in already. This has to get better...

At GM the approach was much less, shall I say "responsible". In Detroit we were introduced to 3 levels of a night club that had alcohol flowing in a sea of your choice of neon strobe lights, fire or a blue ice theme. Executives treated open bar like a unspoken race to see who could be loudest and cross an uncomfortable statement line not only first but sadly most often. My then boss won that race. The prize? A trip home with no pension after 30 years. The people with this company appear to pull the reigns at more than two beers. But maybe there onto something, I haven't read bankruptcy in any of their associated google searches. On to the next awkward introduction...