Complete with a one-drink-token -
One point five units of communication lubrication -
We are set for an evening’s networking

They have us down as ‘tech’
So preconceptions predominate
Our offering is too complex, too expensive, 
Too “two point oh-no not for us”,
For anyone to find out what it is.
The elevator pitch fell into empty space - 
It lies now shattered and pulped 
- Echoing from the bottom of the shaft.

I inveigle into a lively conversation  
But a flicker of fellow-feeling blinks out
As I trace your eye-line over my shoulder.
We will never connect face to face,
Though I'll see your trail of LinkedIn likes 
And ex-colleagues’ invites for years to come.
Is it marketing I wonder? or Pokemon? 

You spy an introduction on the horizon 
Leaving me abruptly adrift amid islands of conversation 
Walls of backs like reefs and cliffs
The only approach, the soft sand of the bar,
Where student-Friday, as bored and bemused as I
Serves consolation at a price that stings. 
Then the shark strikes

It is part of a tech incubator
And a shared co-working space
And partners with universities 
And liaises with Business Improvement Districts 
And can scent a funding grant at twenty paces.
It wants to introduce me - it grins hungrily -
To the other little fishes.

One hand fumbles business cards,
Scans QR codes, text-types URLs,
While the other clings to the wine 
Throttles the plastic cup for want of more
Or something else to throttle.
Eyes a-gog, smile cracked 
First impressions are hopefully, not everything.