Without a good impression, or good rapport, people will not listen to you, or value you. We judge people on 2 dimensions (Susan Fiske) and decide within second whether they are competent and warm. This will affect what parties you are invited to and how people will treat you. 

To make a good impression

First start with attitude 

Imagine they are a long lost friend

Imaging they are someone you could go on holiday with in the future

• What behaviour would you display if they were this person?

5 Tips for Building Confidence

Then prepare: (Romilla Ready, NLP for Dummies)

• Take a genuine interest in getting to know what’s important to the other person.
• Start to understand them
• Match
  • Body posture and gesture
  • Breathing rates
  • Rhythm of movement and energy levels
  • Voice tonality (how you sound) and speed of speech

Eye contact is important. It lets the other person know you are paying attention. It helps find out what the other person is looking at, and can help monitor changes in the other person’s face.  For some people, such as those on the autistic spectrum, they may feel more anxious with eye contact. They might not think it is important, or they might stare, making the other person feel uncomfortable