This is a frenzied, stressful time of year. As the holiday season reaches its peak, networking events and office parties become essential career opportunities. Whether you’re attending client gatherings, industry mixers, or company celebrations, how you handle alcohol and the holidays can impact your professional reputation and career growth.
Building Meaningful Professional Relationships
Holiday events are not just about socializing; they are opportunities for strategic relationship-building. While alcohol is often a part of these gatherings, real connections come from authentic conversations and intentional engagement.
Instead of relying on alcohol to ease interactions, focus on:
Finding common ground with new connections
Strengthening existing professional relationships
Asking insightful questions and showing genuine interest
Networking success comes from presence, confidence, and professionalism—whether or not you choose to drink.
The Power of Strategic Visibility
Alcohol and the holidays often go hand in hand, but your professional presence should always come first. Holiday events provide unique chances to:
Showcase your expertise in casual conversations
Demonstrate leadership potential in social settings
Leave a lasting impression for future career opportunities
The key is to be remembered for your insights and confidence—not for overindulgence.
Gathering Intelligence and Identifying Opportunities
Beyond socializing, holiday events can provide valuable career insights. Use them to:
Learn about industry trends and upcoming challenges
Discover potential job openings or project opportunities
Gain insider knowledge on competitor movements and client needs
Exchange best practices and innovative solutions
By listening and observing, you can turn alcohol and the holidays into a strategic career-advancing opportunity.
Making Smart Choices About Alcohol
If you choose to drink, moderation is key to maintaining professionalism. Consider these guidelines:
Limit yourself to no more than three drinks per event
Alternate alcoholic beverages with water
Eat before drinking to slow absorption
Choose low-alcohol drinks you can sip slowly
Have a polite, prepared response for declining drinks when necessary
Choosing Not to Drink
If you prefer to stay alcohol-free, confidence is key. Try these simple strategies:
Hold a non-alcoholic drink, such as club soda with lime in a tall glass
Politely decline without over-explaining
Shift the focus to the networking opportunities rather than what is in your glass
Handling alcohol and the holidays with confidence ensures that your professional reputation remains intact.
Developing Professional Skills Through Networking
Holiday events provide excellent opportunities to refine key skills:
Perfecting your elevator pitch in casual conversations
Improving small talk abilities to build rapport effortlessly
Reading room dynamics and navigating group interactions smoothly
Mastering the art of graceful exits from conversations
Building confidence in professional social settings
Each event is a chance to strengthen your executive presence, so make it count.
Creating Your Support Network
Networking events are prime opportunities to find mentors and mentees. Be proactive in:
Connecting with senior professionals who can offer guidance
Supporting emerging professionals who may benefit from your insight
Engaging in meaningful conversations that foster long-term career growth
Strong professional relationships often start in informal settings—do not miss the chance to expand your network.
Balancing Professionalism and Enjoyment
While holiday networking serves a career purpose, it should also be enjoyable. Strike the right balance by:
Engaging in meaningful conversations
Keeping interactions light yet professional
Enjoying the event without overindulging
Maintaining professional boundaries while having fun is the key to navigating alcohol and the holidays successfully.
Final Thoughts: Mastering Alcohol and the Holidays
The key to successful holiday networking is finding balance—between social engagement and professionalism. Whether you choose to drink or not, focus on:
Building meaningful connections
Gathering valuable career insights
Maintaining your professional presence
These events are stepping stones to career advancement. Make this holiday season count by networking strategically and setting yourself up for success in the new year.
Your future self will thank you for the relationships you nurture today.
Have you subscribed to my newsletter? It’s made for high-achieving women in accounting, finance, law, and consulting who want to navigate alcohol and the holidays with confidence while maintaining their professional edge. Each week, I share practical strategies to build meaningful connections, reduce stress, and advance your career—without compromising well-being. Subscribe here.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
Eight essential strategies for successful professional networking
How to navigate holiday events with or without alcohol
Tips for maintaining control and professionalism at social gatherings
Ways to leverage holiday events for career advancement
During this busy holiday season, are you struggling to plan for and enjoy PTO? Read this.
Watch The Full Episode:
TRANSCRIPT: Hello, everybody. We are going live. Hello, and welcome, everybody. It's December 18th. Holidays are in full effect. New Year is on its way, and busy season is looming. I'm here for you today because alcohol comes up this time of year and I wanna make sure you're supported. How do I know this? Well, how about let me ask you this. Have you ever embarrassed yourself at a holiday party? Have you ever found yourself break dancing in the middle of your with your engagement team? Have you ever said the wrong thing, said an inappropriate thing, an off color thing, an offensive thing because of alcohol? Have you ever been so groggy and hungover that you missed a flight to a client site the next day? Well, those are things I experienced in my career. So I'm guessing you have your own stories. You have your own I missed a flight because. You have your own I then cc'd everybody because I people were talking about that mystery person who was getting sick in the bathroom at the holiday party and wondering who that was. Right? So I know that those stories are real, not only because they happened to me, but because they happen to so many of those that I speak with. Now maybe, let's be honest, alcohol might not be your thing, but maybe you're coping with, Adderall or maybe over shopping or some other vice. What I'm here to tell you today is there is so much more that you can benefit from your holiday parties than just hitting the bottle. So let me introduce you to the show. Today's gonna be a good one. Are you ready? Welcome to billable hour burnout. If you need helpful tactical advice that actually gives you the career of your dreams without the stress or the overwhelm, you are in the right place. If you wanna finally enjoy the life that you've spent decades building you've come to the right place if you find yourself here today, it's because you're looking for more ease more work life balance more confidence and you're ready to do it without having to quit your job or burn down your life. My name is Lauren Baptiste, your big four auditor, regulatory tax consultant, lifer than I thought and changed and became a life coach. And now I help those in the profession, And I do that with this show as part of the show, billable hour burnout. I'm sharing simple tactical advice and strategies catered to the modern accountant, a consultant, attorney, and finance professional. Let's do it. Episode 37 here. How to holiday schmooze with or without the booze. So just giving you an update for me, and I'm guessing for you too, it's been busy. Thanksgiving came late this year. Christmas is falling at a weird time. Kids scout calendars are, in fact, impacting maybe the days that you used to wrap gifts, and schedules are all over the place. I'm seeing a lot of schedule, reschedules, a lot of cancellations. I'm seeing a lot of busy, stressed out professionals right now. And so I wanted to come in and talk about this because some of us love holiday events. We think of it as, like, our opportunity to blow off some steam, but then some of us are, like, using it as an opportunity to escape from work. But I'll get there in a second. But I've been doing holiday parties too. I've been to different events. It's been so fun. I love getting a little dressed up and getting in front of others. I love networking. And that's why I wanna do this episode because I was like, you know what? Regardless of whether you schmooze or you booze, you can still schmooze successfully. I just finished a client. I always like to do a client story, and I've been slacking the last couple of episodes. But I just got off of a video interview that you'll see soon with one of my clients, Sylvia, who had just a beautiful experience of going from feeling like she was in a pattern of career burnout to then really setting up her life to be instead of work, life balance, life, work balance. And so what that looked like is changing her career to find something that works for her, not the opposite way, starting to build a family that she's always wanted, beginning to really just create the life that she's desired, and being bold enough to take the risks. So that's gonna be a really fun story I'll be sharing with you in time. But let's get into it because we have a lot to share today. Now why do I talk about with or without the booze? Well, I think it's important to know that alcohol does factor into our performance. It does play into how we're perceived around our peers. It's real. But I wanna let you know these stats because when I first read them, I was in shock. I didn't even realize I was a social alcoholic until after the fact. Did you know that 8 drinks per week is considered a heavy drinker? Did you know that 4 drinks or more in an evening is considered a binge drinker? Now these are terms that it's not to put a label and it's not to make anyone feel bad. It's just to be really honest. You know, some of us are like, wait. Like, I if I'm out all night and 4 drinks, you know, over 7 or 8 hours is not that many. Well, if we think about it, over time, if we're going out 3 nights a week or more, you know, when when I was in my in my heyday, I was going out probably 3 or 4 solid nights a week minimum, and then I'd be meeting up with somebody on, like, a Monday night and grabbing a drink. So the number of alcoholic beverages adds up. So we just wanna be really mindful of that because in the profession, we're taught, like, work hard, play harder. We're meeting with our colleagues over alcoholic drinks. We're meeting our, clients over drinks, and we just it becomes ingrained with the culture. But we also don't have to subscribe to all of it. You know, I was on teams where we used to drink because that was how we survived. And I hear that from a lot of the you know, I'll I hear that in the professional lives. Alcohol can create bonding moments, but it can also get us in trouble, and we have to be very careful. So what it looked like for me and what I hear it looks like for many of you is low energy and reduced productivity. So think about it. If you go out on Wednesday night for your holiday party, everybody knows Thursday morning, no one's gonna be productive. Right? That's, like, the general tone. So we wanna change that. Also notice that I patience around mistakes. So instead of it being, like, in a teaching environment, we get frustrated at our team. We feel like nobody can help me. I feel like I have to take on more of the work myself. It's really demoralizing. It can feel almost painful when you're like, why can't they get that right? Right? Notice that your patience is smaller. Your decision making is much more cloudy, less clear, less, to the point, or even, like, sharp. And then there's the physical. Right? We feel, maybe we can experience some acne. We experience heartburn. We experience, even, like, redness in our skin. We can see the effects of how alcohol can play into our digestion and our just brain functioning. And so we just need to be mindful of all these things and ask ourself, is it worth it? One thing that I knew that came out on top of me, not feeling healthy in my body and not feeling productive in my day, so I was just incredibly negative. I hated everyone and everything. I felt I was always frustrated. I was always annoyed, and I went to alcohol to solve that problem, and it didn't. It create it contributed to my burnout episode in 2013, and I know for a lot of you, alcohol is part of the problem. Now a lot of people say it's not a problem for me. It's just something that I need to be more mindful of, and that's okay. Let's be more mindful of it. But as we're thinking about today's call and today's episode, I wanna be so on it for you because I don't want you to be thinking, well, if I don't drink, then everyone's gonna hate me or I'm not gonna have fun or you know, there's there's thoughts around alcohol, and everybody has their own beliefs around alcohol and how it should be and how it shouldn't, and that's why it's so taboo in the first place. So instead of focusing on do I drink or don't I drink and I'll give you some guidance at the end of this episode of what to think about and some guide guardrails to stay on track. But I want you to be thinking about it's schmoozing with or without the booze. So schmoozing and networking and parties are meant to be joyful events where you can relax, where you can be yourself, where you can enjoy. And we can do that without having to sacrifice our health, our well-being, the thing that we might say that we don't wanna say. So let's think about the things that actually work when we're schmoozing. The first is building relationships. We can build relationships with or without alcohol. We can even offer. Can I get you a drink? Right? If if it's helpful and you could grab your, you know, when I'm not drinking and I'm at an event, I love doing, seltzer or or a club soda with a lime in a tall glass. So sometimes they'll give you water in the plastic cup and everyone's like, oh, drinking water, and there are thoughts around that. But I'm like, you know what? Sometimes it's just easier to be like, here's my drink, here's yours. Nobody even says anything. But regardless, right, we're here to build relationships. So I wanna focus on this as, like, the top thing. I'm gonna give you a few, like, 8 points to think about, but the first one being, you're at an event to build relationships. And I want you to be thinking about that because that is the most important thing. It's not about how many drinks you have. It's not commiserating. It's not taking a shot together. It's building a relationship. How can you do that without alcohol? I want you to be thinking about that because there is a way where you can build relationships. You know that because you have relationships in the office with your clients. You have relationships with your friends, and it's not always around alcohol. So we just wanna be so mindful. How can we build a relationship regardless? The second thing, the goal of schmoozing is sometimes to create visibility. Right? To be in a room so that people know who you are. And this is more for our work side, but, like, this is where you get to be seen, see and be seen, be remembered. This is where you want people to see you in your, like, your best cleanest, most, like, efficient, I don't know, happy, empowered self. There's the word, empowered. You don't want it to be embarrassed, drunk, stumbling, embarrassed self. You know? I remember those days, and I was like, wow. If I really were was thinking it's about visibility that they're gonna see me, then I might be more mindful of how much I drink at those events. Right? So building relationships, visibility. Number 3, I love gathering information. Do you ever go to a space, especially when you're networking to, like, get data? What's going on in the economy? What's happening with your client that's similar to mine? How are you solving for this problem? What's going on for that next promotion? It being in these events are are great opportunities to gather data intel. Here, what are problems that others are having that maybe I have an expertise that I can help with? Right? So when you gather information in these events, you can also think about how can I solve for them? How can I help? I love networking because what's happening is somebody is saying I have a problem, and we're trying to pair a solution to that problem. And what we can do that when we're gathering information. Number 4, identifying opportunities. Think about that. This is also in that gathering information. But if you're listening and you hear people talking about job openings, project opportunities, new business ventures, Maybe this becomes your future. Right? I talk about getting a job all the time. And if I'm talking to a client, they're like, well, maybe I don't feel comfortable going to a networking event because I don't have a job today. But this is where you can go into rooms and identify what's going on. This can be a differentiator for you in getting a job faster. So schmoozing is a power play right here. So we wanna make sure that you're using it for its best. Number 5, promote your projects. Right? This is the opportunity to promote yourself. So promote your project, meaning, like, maybe you're trying to propose something to a client. Maybe you're trying to pitch yourself for an opportunity. Maybe you're just trying to speak to how amazing your team has been. Right? Promote your people. Promote your projects. Promote what's going on. It's a great opportunity to just showcase your best self. It doesn't mean be fake. Right? If you're struggling with something, you could say, hey. Here's I love that my team is doing this and we're succeeding here. Here's what we're looking to strategize or looking for support with. You don't have to look weak to, like you actually can look very powerful and empowered when you position yourself properly at these types of events. So this is why I love sharing it. Okay. Number 6, you could develop soft skills. A lot of you come into my world saying you don't necessarily feel so comfortable at networking. I was at an event last week and there was a woman I ran into and she was like, if you expressed what hell would look like, it would be this. It would be and what was funny is, everybody was they told it was a dress red theme. So if you look around, it was very red. And, you know, if somebody doesn't like to network, it could feel like hell. So we need to make sure that we give ourselves the best opportunity to be in in events in areas that we feel good. Sometimes, big networking events aren't the best for someone who's trying to develop the skill of networking. Maybe you wanna start with a 15 to 20 person smaller event and build up the rapport. You start to have familiar faces in your world. And then as you go into a bigger room, you don't feel so lonely. These are the skills you wanna develop. You could even if you are someone who is a business owner in accounting law consulting or finance, right, what you can do is learn how to pitch yourself when you go into a room and say, hi. My name is this, and this is what I do, and here's who I help. You really get to develop yourself in these types of rooms, and you get to do it over and over and over again. And that's why networking rooms are so powerful because you can have you can have instant feedback of, oh, I do this, and people might say, oh, really? Like, I don't love that. And then you say it again, and you're like, oh, that's so interesting. Tell me more. To then you have somebody be like, I wanna work with you. How do I get involved? Right? So you can develop your skills in these schmoozy events With or without the booze. Right? Alcohol's not part of this conversation even though it is. Alright. Number 7. You can find mentors. You can even find proteges. Mentors are so valuable. Women in the leadership level find it so lonely because we don't have a group. We don't have others. We don't have a coach, a mentor, a support system, a personal board of directors. We think doing it by ourselves is the way to do it because we don't feel comfortable being honest around some of our peers because they think that will give them a competitive advantage. We feel like we'll get fired if we say the wrong thing. We feel like we won't get promoted or the opportunity if we express stress or overwhelm or anything that's not like, I'm good. I'm perfect. Right? So what I want you to be doing when you're in these rooms over and over and over again is finding mentorship, finding those that can help you get one step farther along the way. So it's a really great opportunity when you're speaking to, others in these, like, schmoozy environments that you're like, wow. I can see that you're, you know, now a firm partner. I would love to hear your story to get there. Right? You can do that when you're schmoozing. And the last one, number 8. We've gone through all of them. I'll read them quickly. In order to schmooze to with or without the boos to our mostest, we're building relationships. We're enhancing our visibility. We're gathering information. We're identifying opportunities. We're promoting ourselves and our people. We're developing soft skills. We're finding mentors and proteges. And number 8, to be a stress relief. As I mentioned earlier in the call, just by going to these, being around others, it can be something that lifts you up. It can be social. It could be festive. It can be nonwork content and still be valuable. Right? You can go I did this event last year. I was invited to a law firm, and they turned their conference room into a spa for, like, the evening. It was so sweet. They had these massage tables with just like the one where you're wearing, like, your clothes, and they just give you, like, a 10 minute, like, back massage. They had people doing nails, then they had, like, food, and all this just, like, good good energy, good vibe. And I loved that because you can also you can schmooze, network, and relieve your stress. And it was such what I loved most about it is that it doesn't have to be an event where you're sitting next to a bar or you're sitting at the bar. You're taking shots. And the bar conversations always happen to be very similar. So we want to be mindful that when we're we are networking, maybe we wanna go to a cooking class with our client, or we wanna go to, a restaurant where we eat, like, a food that we've never tried before. Maybe that you know, as I second guess that, maybe you wanna be careful. Do that with colleagues, not with your client. But just in case. But you know what I'm saying. Like, get creative. Go to a jazz club. Go do something that feels a little different, or even turn your conference room into a spa like that law firm did. But here's what I wanna say. With or without alcohol, you have power. And that's truly the only thing that matters at the end of the day because when I was burned out, when I was drinking more than I should at a holiday party, when I was embarrassing myself, when I was having rumors spread. Luckily, they never got to my name, at least that I know of. But when I was in an environment where I wasn't in control, I realized I have so much power more power when I am in control. And that really is the differentiator. If you decide to drink, moderation is key. You know this. It's a recipe for success. So you can do that by deciding, okay. I'm having no more than 3 cocktails max at this one event. I'm gonna drink a water between each cocktail. I'm gonna eat first and then I'm gonna drink. Do you notice how these little strategies can be so powerful? So moderation is key, having a strategy, choosing your drinks wisely. Right? So maybe opting for drinks that you can sip slowly versus chug. Right? Just know how choose your drinks wisely of how that works for you. And then even if you're someone who's like, I don't really like I don't wanna booze that much. I might have a drink, but, like, my client likes to bring me on drink for drink. You can be mindful of having you know, you can even talk to the waiter on the side and just be like, when they bring me a new drink, take a new drink, but then also take this one away. Or you can tell them, like, you can toast, but you don't have to drink if they do a big toast. You can be as long as you're comfortable with this, of course, it's like, how can you be around alcohol and not feel, the peer pressure to be in lockstep with somebody who likes to drink a lot more. You don't have to be. So be really strategic about how you consume, and just know how it shows up for you if you go overboard and be mindful. Like, is this what's best for me? Is it good that I lose my whole Thursday because I overdrank beyond my own choice at the holiday party? Right? Be so mindful. Without booze, so I say confidently choose your nonalcoholic options. Like for me, I mentioned to you, I like to drink club soda in a tall glass with a lime, and that's like my version of a gin and tonic mocktail. It makes it feel really smooth to be around others even when it's nonalcoholic. I also think if you're without booze, all good, but be prepared for your response of no thanks. I'm driving tonight. I'm keeping it light today. I'm just not feeling like, I'm not in the mood to drink tonight. I have a long day tomorrow. Right? However you wanna say it, know your response and just choose, like and know your why. It's not even just know your response. Know your why. So even if you just say I'm keeping it light today and that's all you say to them, like, just know deep down, like, why? Because I don't wanna be hungover tomorrow. I don't wanna feel like garbage. I wanna feel good. I'm trying to get to this year end deadline, and I'd rather spend the time with my family on Christmas than be, you know, up late and out all night here with at this party. And, like and, again, the third point, I guess, is we're thinking about it without booze. So picking your drink of choice, your nonalcoholic drink of choice, being prepared with your response, and then really just be deep in the networking. Be here. Be here now with the people. You don't have to stand next to the bar if it makes you uncomfortable, but you can just mingle in the room and do your circles and, have a great time. And it it can be nothing to do with alcohol. And that's what I love about this this whole thing. So, okay, as we come to the end of today's episode, whether you drink or not, the key is to have a successful holiday schmooze. It's to be personable. It's to be respectful. It's to be yourself. It's to be stress relieving. And truly, it's meant to be fun. Nobody books these holiday parties because they want you to be miserable. They book them as a thank you, as a we appreciate you, as a have fun, whatever that means. Right? We wanna, like, spoil you and bring you to a fun dinner. Allow yourself to have fun and also allow yourself to stay in control. And if you can promise those two things to yourself, you'll be successful. Alright, everybody. That is today's episode. Whether or not you drink, you are welcome to have an amazing holiday schmooze. Right? So thank you so much for joining today's episode. Stay connected because I think I know I have told you this in here. There's only one more episode after today of billable hour burnout before our season finale. We're gonna have an amazing testimonial interview that you're gonna see of my client, Beth, and her story. But I just wanna let you know, this has been so fun doing this first season together of gaining so much information and what you wanna learn, and keep doing that. Just because the season finale is coming doesn't mean that the series finale is here. Right? This will continue in its own way, shape, and form, but it it comes to even greater life when you continue to tell me what lights you up, what you wanna hear me talk about. So continue to find me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and wherever you hang. I love hearing from you. I love hearing what's landing for you. I know this content around alcohol is one of those that I get a lot of feedback on, so I hope that you enjoy this and receive it as much as I enjoyed sharing it. And thank you again for listening. So if you want more information about me, Lauren Baptiste, my one on one coaching program, Freedom, or Akaloha Wellness, you can visit www.akalohawellness.com. Alright, everybody. I will see you on the 23rd for our season finale. Take care.
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