I also have a practical advise to those who try to improve their social skills especially in the dating space.

Learn some real partner dance!

By "partner dance" I mean something that requires real partnering skills like salsa, swing or tango, (rather than hip-hop or techno, etc. that have no real partner dancing scene and culture).

Although I don't do it for pick-up or dating reasons (I am married with children), I have been dancing salsa for a few years and I recognized a lot of positive effects:

• Great workout (much more fun than anything else I tried)
• Learned to behave much more relaxed and self-confident in the company of women.
• Improved body-awareness, posture, gracefulness, etc.
• Taught me how to make bodily contact in a gentle and enjoyable way and without being intrusive or offensive and feel completely natural about it.
• Made me more aware of dressing and hygiene.
• A form of social meditation: living in the presence, enjoying the moment by concentrating not on oneself but on someone else and the music.

But first of all: It is an awful lot of fun. Imagine that you to go to work or to a conference in a city you've never been before and at the end of the day you can be almost sure that you will find a place where there are several people of the opposite sex wait to chat with you a bit, spend a few minutes in your arms without any significant risks or hurt feelings. This was my experience at every single place I visited: I counted that within the last two years I danced in 4 different countries 15 different cities and over 30 different venues.

I am neither really young, nor good looking. It's also fair to say that I am extremely introverted, geeky and clumsy. Still, I managed to have more fun than I've ever expected. For example two months ago I went to a salsa event and was sitting around a bit between two songs when a beautiful woman came up to me and asked me to dance. I never say no, but maybe I should have, because she was so much above my level: it was almost embarrassing... Later in the night I told my wife that I danced with that amazing woman. She looked at her and told me: "Good for you, you just danced with Liz Lira" (Turned out my wife went to her workshop, during the day) Indeed: I looked her up in the net and recognized: 5X salsa world champion..., but what a nice person!