The other day I went to this party and people I hadn't met heard my name and said "Hey I've heard about you! Everyone says you're like 'the most interesting man in the world' from those commercials!" I didn't have to do **** but have a few shots and introduce myself and I had all kinds of people wanting to say hi. Then at other parties people have come up to me and said things like "I heard you're a good artist" or "are you the guy who <insert some story here>" or other things like that. And you know what? I haven't had to do much but say "oh, well enough about that, tell me about yourself" and I'm golden.
Because high school and college are huge crisscrossing social webs, I don't think there's anything more important than social proof. Knowing which people to ask an opinion on an art project, which people to tell stories to, etc... makes all the difference because if you reveal the right things about yourself to the right people, everybody will hear about you. Then all you have to do is show up at the party and not be a try-hard.
Because high school and college are huge crisscrossing social webs, I don't think there's anything more important than social proof. Knowing which people to ask an opinion on an art project, which people to tell stories to, etc... makes all the difference because if you reveal the right things about yourself to the right people, everybody will hear about you. Then all you have to do is show up at the party and not be a try-hard.