Ever been to a networking meeting and got stuck with someone determined to tell you their life story? That fabulous chance to network transforms into an elongated series of nods and “really’s?” as you become an amateur psychotherapist for the night.

Often our sense of politeness and fear of causing offence forbids us from moving on, but with a few basic techniques you can “unstick” yourself from the network bore and get real value from your networking efforts.

Here are a few ideas to oil the cogs:

1. Set the parameters at the beginning
“Can you give me a quick overview of what you do?” rather than “So, tell me about your business” (because they will).

2. The buddy system
Create a signal to communicate to a friend or colleague that you want to move on (make it subtle, unfurling a banner with the words “help me” doesn’t go down well). They can then intercept and introduce you to another networker. You do the same for them.

3. The passover system
Simple. Once you have enough information from the person you are networking with “regift” them to someone else with an authoritative introduction i.e. “here’s Tony, he’s just been telling me a fantastic way of saving money on marketing costs”.

Of course the ultimate get out of jail card is the call of nature technique, but there’s only so many times you can use that without looking like you’ve got a problem!