Surely they would understand it's an opportunity for networking, but I'd still say Tom would be a little surprised to read this:

"Tom: spend max 10 minutes on him as he's the vehicle to his boss Richard that is my gateway to a promotion. Ice breaker: he's a dweeb that studies fungi. Memorize one fungi name and say it grows in my garden and you're about to eat it, so that Tom can save my life by saying its toxic. Exit: isn't that Richard, your boss? I'm going to tell him how you saved my life lol."