Comments for Pete Schuster

Comment on Content as a Kingdom by shannon

shannon — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:14:32 +0000

I’m looking forward to watching that video of Kristina’s speech. I think it would definitely help me out at my job since content is my main squeeze. Thanks for the great resources, as always!

Comment on Interacting with the Community by Dave Konopka

Dave Konopka — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:54:38 +0000

Clearly the solution is somebody needs to create a new service that allows nerds to interact with other human beings without having to ever actually interact with other human beings!

I’m sorry to have missed you at Build Guild. I usually try to say hi and introduce myself to everyone that comes by. Clearly I am not succeeding at that goal

I’m way introverted myself. After hosting Build Guild for a while now though, the technique that seems to work for for me is to commit to talking to people I do not know. People generally are comfortable talking about themselves. I try to introduce myself and ask genuine questions about the person: what is he/she is interested, why they came out to the event, what they like to do for fun. This usually gets a conversation going.

Sometimes it flops, but usually it flops with somebody even more introverted than me. I can relate to that.

Hopefully you can make it out for another Build Guild. I’ll make sure to say hi this time.

Comment on Interacting with the Community by Liam Dempsey

Liam Dempsey — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:18:04 +0000

Hi Pete,

Great conversation about a topic that scares us all!

As Erika mentioned, having a buddy is very helpful: you can take turns introducing each other to new people. That halves the number of times you each need to speak to someone new.

For me, I had an epiphany years ago that seemed to do the trick for me. I made a decision that I just wasn’t going to be scared talking to new people. The first few months were tough, and not always successful. Yet after enough attempts at stepping out of my comfort zone, I realized that, as Erika noted, most people are really nice, very understanding and in the same ‘worried-about-networking’ boat. Now, I really look forward to local events and meetups.

As for topics to start conversations, I guess it’s different each time. Just a few ideas: talk of the clothes someone has one (Cool shoes!), a local sports team or happening (almost always an easy in for guys) or as you suggest, ask what brought someone of to an event (What brings you out to this meetup on such a cold, windy night?)

When I attended your presentation at WordCamp and we met up in December, you struck me as switched-on, knowledgeable, very nice and pretty cool too — certainly way more cool than I. You’ve nothing to worry about as you’re personable enough to carry any conversation.

Comment on Interacting with the Community by Shannon Collins

Shannon Collins — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:02:53 +0000

Uh oh, if you start socializing more at these events, who will I cling to in fear of speaking to strangers? In all honesty, I find that I talk to people more when I’m by myself than when I bring a buddy because I’m forced to break out of my shy shell. But I much prefer having you or someone else there to hide by when I’m surrounded by people I’ve never met, or who I’ve quietly stalked on Twitter but know they won’t know anything about me! I feel like I’ve made pretty big strides with my schmoozing abilities (big stride=talking to a stranger without any mention of vajayjays or other body parts)…but there’s still a long way to go. I agree with Erica, the more we start to attend these events, the more we’ll start to recognize friendly faces and get to know people, and the less overwhelmed we’ll be.

PS. Hi Erika! So glad to have met you, it’s awesome people like you who make stirring around in awkwardness totally worth it.