ad tech Connect: Small Talk with Big People
The room was set up with a semi circle up front and a couple of mikes. There was the traditional panel but that is not what was going on. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into in this session. It was one I was asigned to cover. But I like both small talk and big people. I imagined having chips and dip with Shaq or something. The unsual set up left people hanging in the back.
I on the other hand have always been an upfront girl. In the third grade I had a seat in the front row and won the coveted task of erasing the board. It is not that I need the teachers attention. In fact it is that I know that I am easily distracted by the shine of my shoes or a conversation by the coffee that puts me in the front.
As I approached a lovely blond woman invited me to play. I like to play. I am something of a risk taker. I take fire dancing on Tuesdays and am in the SF Improv Slam singing contest at the New Market Theater. So this did not intimidate me. However it took a lot of cojoling to get the seats filled. And even some of the people slated to share seemed nervous at the prospect of being asked questions.
David Ferrera “the meeting guy” has made a game out having a conversation. He tells people to ask interested questions rather than interesting questions. It seems a shame that people have to be reminded to be interested in one another. I think this is the fault of the myth of the elevator pitch. Nothing makes me cringe more than the ninety second spiel. It is as if people are just going out and spewing on each other and seeing what sticks.
Ferrera brings up the good point that people are vunerable when they are asked questions that are real and that matter. That is why he calls it the hot seat. The people in the hot seat seemed to be enjoying themselves. What was most interesting was that it forced them to think about the answers they were giving rather than the canned pitched.
The idea of telling people in a business setting who you really are is novel. This game will be played again tomorrow and I suggest that people attend. And if they can’t try to ask someone an interested question on the floor.
