I went to a workshop the other day…..it sucked. It was about making small talk and the importance behind it. This was a workshop I registered a month ago because I had some interest in it. It was awkward, useless, and a waste of my club hours. Basically, I don’t think the host said one word about a business meeting. He kept talking about conversing in a social manner. O yeah that reminds me, THERE’S NO WORD CALLED “CONVERSATING”….it’s “CONVERSING”. ANYWHOOO, yeah so he kept talking about conversing in a social environment. He unknowingly made it seem like we were all losers. I know he wouldn’t do that, but that’s what it seemed like. But it wasn’t just me, everyone thought the same thing because he told us to go around the room and form groups of three and meet each other. He gave us topics to talk about, I deviated from that and decided to talk about how strange I thought he was and how this was nothing like I expected. EVERYONE agreed with me. He gave us a packet with like fifty things to say when you run out of things to say….I could have picked better conversation starters out of my ass. Regardless, I spent the rest of workshop thinking about how I could DEFINITELY teach this workshop better and what else I would teach….well if it were really about talking in a social environment because there was no doubt in my mind, that I could pick up more women in a bar than this guy could. I was hoping he would give some tips on avoiding awkward silences. It doesn’t really happen that much to me because I have my own techniques and I clearly love to talk and ramble as you can probably tell….but still, I would love to hear from someone else. If I taught a workshop, I would also teach how to CREATE an awkward silence. Sometimes, creating an awkward silence is a good way to just break out into mental laughter which I BELIEVE, is the cure to most of the planet’s diseases. That, and it helps send the message to others that you don’t want to talk with them. I was pretty upset after the workshop because I feel like these resources that Baruch offers can be helpful, but after my one bad workshop, I lost faith in workshops and I lack the motivation to register for another one. I am confident, that I can become a better motivational speaker.
