[hnbad]

Honestly? I'm not an extrovert at all but a group of 3+ people makes it a lot easier to keep my distance and get a feel for how people are before engaging with them. For me this is very much an autism thing.

When going to conferences I've made it a habit to try to talk to new people on every break out of principle (because after all, if I just want to watch the talks, usually there are recordings available afterwards or even a livestream, so they're a waste of money on their own). But approaching strangers standing alone is extremely awkward unless you have a plausible excuse (e.g. queuing) so the "open circle" group of 3+ people (i.e. keeping enough space while facing each other so at least another person can easily join) tends to work best.

Being in a group of 3+ people also reduces the social anxiety of whether it's okay to back out because you're not abandoning the person specifically, while also making it easier for an additional person to join because there's already a conversation going so it's fine if you find that you have nothing to add.