>>2824156
>any good suggestions for networking or meeting people abroad who are doing business?
if you want to meet business people then really the best place is to look for special interest groups related to whatever business you are in, or expat small business groups, or something similar
really you have to start on social media to see what is happening around you. facebook/reddit (oh god i can hear the mouthbreathers lurching over their keyboards already) or linkedin to find local groups, or eventbrite to find events, expos etc that you can attend
yeah yeah people bitch about how awful linkedin is but over the last 10 years or so i would say the majority of my work with new customers has originated on there
>bars
this is not a good place to start. yes you will occasionally find an expat who is working with a local company who will give you some good insights. that might even be me. but it is not generally a basis for a strong business relationship. the most likely outcome is that they will give you their card then forget all about you
t. i run my own business in asia

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>>2824229
i am not particularly interested in business connections i just like the vibe and wanna try to talk to people and see what other industries are like over drinks while im abroad in asia
im a corporate lawfag who will be travelling quite a bit soon

>>2824236
in that case social media or a site like meetup is still your best bet, by looking up local business groups or interest groups and finding out what places they hang out.
there are always bars that tend to attract an expat crowd but the ratio of weirdos to people you might want to talk to tends to be quite high (unless you like talking to weirdos, of course)
there used to be periodical pamphlet type thingss published regularly in most asian megacities that had local event listings, expat friendly places and so on but i haven't seen anything like that for some time. i guess they have all been superseded by facebook

>>2824156
conferences

having specific business inquiries to a relevant office

>>2824156
This is one of the very few situations where LinkedIn is actually useful—all kinds of businesspeople in a range of industries are happier than you would expect to talk to people who pass through their territories, especially if you know people in common, and/or come across as someone who might someday be a customer, client, valuable new hire, or employer. Reach out to people whose industries or companies are of interest to you before a trip, and you’re very likely to get at least a few people willing to take a meeting.

Another species of surprisingly easy-to-access network can be found in international chambers of commerce—the American versions of these are mostly country/market-specific (a few are regional), and they’re nicknamed AmChams. They’re little clubs representing American businesses operating in whatever country they’re in, and they frequently hold public events to show off American products, services, or joint-venture/investment opportunities that attract lots of host-country businesspeople. And they’re not uniquely American—the UK has BritChams all over Asia, and I assume there are CanChams and AusChams as well.

A final angle that may be worth exploring are your country’s local embassies and/or cultural outposts (the British Council, Goethe Institut, etc.). The cultural institutes are mostly language schools in many countries, but some of them organize public events that attract the occasional local big shot who went to Oxford or Heidelberg or wherever (and on that note, also see if there’s an alumni association for one of the schools you attended in whatever country you’re heading for). And embassies have all kinds of parties and public events that are often not hard to get invited to.

>t. Recovering former business development executive whose job largely consisted of networking in Asia for a couple of years