š Hello, thank you for reading A Helpful Thing! This is the THIRD edition, so be sure to read until the end for an interesting story involving the number 3! š
Ok, I say -ish because obviously, we donāt want you to come out of this thing with an army of stalkers. But we do want the audience to like you as on the whole, people are much more receptive to a message when itās coming from someone they like. Iām pretty sure SFHOST (someone from Harvard once said that - per the glossary)
Here are 3 ways to bond with an audience:
1. Help them fall madly, deeply, desperately in love with one another
If someone makes a friend because of you, they like you. Itās science! Probably? If you can get people talking not only to you but to one another, it results in a jovial atmosphere and people often leave with new friends or valuable business contacts.
Think of ways to get audience members talking to one another and generally as a group. Ways to do this include icebreakers, games, small group activities, etc. Need help with figuring out what might work for your event and your content? Let me know!
I can definitely talk more about it here, but I am also happy to work with you individually: Cara@CaraDevins.com.
2. Give them an opportunity to win BLPs (bullshit little prizes)
People. Love. Prizes. I cannot overstate this enough. Even if itās what I **LOVINGLY** classify as a ābullshit little prizeā which is a glorified office supply or a branded pop socket. Please weigh in, what is your BLP of choice:
I learned this lesson about prizes dangerously firsthand when I worked at Google and led perhaps millions upon millions of client training sessions. Not only would we give up BLPs in the session, but everyone who filled out the post-session feedback form would be entered to win a prize as well. A week after the training, I would draw the winner and email them to let them know they won the raffle and ask where to send the prize. Average response time on those emails? Roughly 10 seconds.
Also, if I was ever delinquent in mailing prizes and waited more than a few days I would frequently get an email asking when they should expect it. BLPs make people happy!
3. Find common ground
Find anything that you and several people in the room might be able to bond over. Is it cold in there? Were subways running late? Did everyone watch the Oscars the night before and canāt stop talking about how Nicolas Cage wore a controversial tunic?? Bring that shit up! People wanna talk tunics ok?
Anything you can chat about that people will relate to will help you in developing a relationship with your audience and yes, make them fall madly, deeply, desperately in love with you.
If you found this helpful and wanna make sure you never miss a single word of this newsletter going forward, I beg you, please:
And finally, AS PROMISEDā¦something fun involving the number 3: There are only 3 people who have completed non-stop solo flights around the world. Can you name any of them??