In 21st century America, opening a conversation with a unknown person is downright suspect. Making eye contact is difficult. It is best to look busy by engaging with the little screens we carry. It is possible to hide behind the impersonal walls many put up to avoid face to face contact at inappropriate times. Having said that, suppose face to face contact was needed? What can be the easiest method to engage a stranger in a conversation? What about many hundreds of strangers in a crowd of thousands? Consider name tags?
Implementing the simplest human connection has grown to be very difficult for most. We are more connected, but less connected. It really is easier than ever to go through life avoiding actual contact with strangers and neighbors, the very people we must engage if we are going to reach out for any purpose in any way.
In a recently unparalleled blitz in opposition to social awkwardness, Meetup.com and the Huffington Post decided to hand out more than a half a million name tags to the guests for a recent presidential Inauguration. The name tags read Hello, My Fellow American, My Name Is… and attendees were to write in their name, where they are from and slap it on their coat to start discussions with fellow Americans.
In doing so, they turned a crowd into a community.
Individuals are a great deal more open to approach and conversation with strangers when their name is visible, as in on name badges. Consider name tags or name badges when you might be networking inside a large crowd of strangers. You are definite to implement conversations which could become productive and possible even profitable in the end.