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| Making New Friends at WWF: http://www.365-friends.blogspot.com/ |
I was sitting at Starbucks today, reading a book about interpersonal skills and sipping my hot Mint Mocha when I came up with the idea for the 365 Friends project. Feeling very excited, I looked around to see who I could start a conversation with. Everyone seemed busy.
So I decided to take a walk along Victoria Harbour. Perhaps I'd run into some tourists?
30 minutes later, and no new friends.
This was turning out to be harder than I thought.
However, as I was walking along, I came across a WWF event for Earth Hour. There was a group of people who were drumming out some of the best beats I've heard. I was mesmerized. I stayed and watched for about an hour.
When the band had finished playing, the crowd began to disperse. One of the band-members - a woman probably in her thirties or early fourties - was sitting at the side by herself, taking a break from what must have been an exciting but exhausting drumming session.
I decided to grab my chance and approached her.
"Hey! That's some great music!! I complimented her. "Just out of curiosity, is this what you do for a living?"
She smiled and I introduced myself. She introduced herself as Linda, and once we got talking, she let me know that she was the Founder of a Mind-Set company in Hong Kong called MeManagement. Wow, what a great contact to run into!
Once she realized I was from Tanzania, she introduced me to another friend of hers - an Indian lady called Seema who had been born in Nigeria. We immediately had something to talk about because of our shared similarity - being two Indians who were raised in Africa.
When Seema found out that I was a student at HKUST, she said, "Hang on! One of your Professors is here playing with us!"
She introduced me to a man who did not fit your typical image of a Professor. He seemed more like a rock-star as opposed to a Professor. Again, our shared similarity [both living at the same University] became a topic of conversation. After that short conversation, I honestly believe that he's the coolest Professor at HKUST. If you're a UST student who's interested in playing drums, contact me and I'll put you in touch with him - he has a drum-jamming session every Tuesday.
And just like that, I'd been welcomed into a circle of friends. I was introduced to two more members of the group - Shirley and Rob - after which I happily walked away with everyone's contact details...plus an invitation to their drum-jamming session if I was interested in trying it out.
Insights from Day 1: How to Turn Strangers into Friends
- Be brave and just go for it. If I hadn't introduced myself to Linda, I certainly wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting the team.
- Find a Common Interest to Talk About - With Linda, our common interest was 'drumming'. I was interested in the music she was playing, and she was willing to tell me. With Seema, we found a shared similarity: both being Indians who'd grown up in Tanzania. And for the Professor, we both had a shared similarity to talk about: living at HKUST.
Conversation Tip
- Search for similar interests/similarities and you'll have something to break the ice and start becoming friends.
