Forced bios and "what do you need help with?" go-arounds kill a room. Give people space and time to get to know each other first.
The idea
Organizers mean well. They see a room of talented people and want to engineer outcomes. But asking everyone to justify their presence on the spot turns a gathering of peers into a forced transaction, as if people only matter if they can provide value immediately. You can create the conditions for connection, but you can't manufacture it with structure and formulas. Value does come, later, out of trust. (Setting norms for a gathering is a different move; see pop-up-rules.)
How to do it
If you're organizing:
Give people permission to just be humans first.
Suggest one-on-ones with no agenda. "Just get to know each other" is plenty.
Resist putting the room into productivity mode. Not every moment needs optimizing.
Trust adults to navigate a conversation without your intervention.
If you're attending:
You're allowed to push back politely.
Don't recite your bio unless it comes up naturally.
If someone asks what you need, it's fine to say you don't need anything right now.
Example
A while back I walked into a group coffee with great people, and the organizer opened with "Let's go around the room. Everyone share your professional bio and what you need help with." You could feel the air leave the room. Around the same time, I joined a short-term project whose organizer said: "Book one-on-one calls with everyone in the group this first week. No agenda." People actually connected, and a ton of value came out of it.
Script
"I'd love to just chat organically if that's cool."
"Nothing right now - just enjoying meeting people here."
Pop-Up Rules: Fill the vacuum of social norms at your gathering: say up front what you'll talk about, what's off the table and how the bill splits.
Connection Over Value: Choose who to stay close to by who you genuinely like, not who seems important, because liking is what makes you actually reach out.
Make One Friend: Your one goal at a networking event is to make a friend, because referrals come from knowing, trusting and liking each other.
Replace "What Do You Do?": Ask 'What's the most exciting thing going on for you right now?' instead, and try a whole evening without 'What do you do?'