It sounds like you were trying to mentally classify the networking event as a "social" event, where "social" means that the focus is on enjoying others' company. I would suggest that that is the wrong model to apply here. A networking event of this sort is about sales and marketing, not socializing, and it's more similar to an auction, a farmer's market, or an art fair, than it is to an evening out with friends. Because the goods for sale are people and their skillsets, social conventions demand a veneer of pleasantries surrounding the sales pitches, but it's just a veneer, and I don't think it really qualifies as insincerity. You might exchange a bit of small talk with the farmer at the market while shopping for apples, but he's there to sell, and you're there to buy, and neither of you is seriously pretending otherwise. If you're looking for green apples, and this farmer only has red ones, you're not going to hang around, and the farmer wouldn't want you to.