Can’t Hold People’s Attention

I was at a function in New York city with professionals in their mid 20s, I knew the hosts so I was invited, (they are alums of my school where I am a rising senior). I initiated conversations and some people initiated conversations with me and we started to get the ball rolling with the classic where are you originally from, where'd you go to school, what do you do for a living, etc. After about 2-3 minutes, almost everyone I spoke to came up with a clever excuse(need another beverage/bathroom) and left the conversation. One of the best social tips I hear is to be interested in people and ask questions about themselves because people like talking about themselves, but it seems when I do it, people get turned off easily and the conversation becomes stale and boring. I'm worried I can't hold conversations with new people unless I have something uniquely in common with them to talk about for hours on end.