How To Politely End A Conversation At A Party

Sometimes it’s hard to politely remove yourself from a conversation at a party, and the last thing you want to do is make things awkward since you’re going to be stuck in a social situation with the person for a while.
So how do you move on without coming off like a total jerk? Chris Colin, author of What To Talk About: On A Plane, at a Cocktail Party, in a Tiny Elevator with Your Boss’s Boss shares his bold but effective approach to finishing a conversation at a party:

"Whether you’re having a lovely conversation or a crappy one, I think that the way to get out of either is identical," he says. "My approach is to look them in the eye with a big smile and say, 'It’s been so nice talking with you.' And then you just do a hard pivot and you walk away."
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If you are hereby emboldened to try Colin's approach, note that the technique needs to be deployed with appropriate warmth and congeniality.
"What has to go with it is being a nice and decent person," says Colin. "When you say ‘It’s been nice talking to you,’ you should probably mean it, and you should communicate that with your eyes and your smile and all that stuff. If you do that, then I think it’s okay."

It’s just nice enough to keep you in a stranger’s good graces and assertive enough that it’ll even work on the Clingers and the Close Talkers.