Every Wednesday, the 10 Indium Corporation summer college interns participate in a lunch-n-learn session, held at Indium Corporation's global headquarters. Going in, my expectations were low. I was expecting a two-hour long boring lecture, a desperate fight against the urge to nap, and a completely average lunch. But hey! It’s free food. Expectations were shattered.
Diana Wolgemuth from Dale Carnegie was ecstatic. She had every single one of us engaged from the word "go." The workshop presented was called Interpersonal Competence: Connect with Others. Networking skills in essence. Improving external awareness, building trust, and proper co-worker interaction were just a few of the core components. Time flew and, after what felt like 30 minutes, I looked up at the clock to see it tick past 1:45, 15 minutes later than the scheduled ending time, and none of us cared. Oh, and the food was great.
One of the more interesting parts of the workshop, and the most fun for me, was the conversation stack. It’s a method to help prevent those awkward silences between people who have just met. Diana had us all picture this crazy image, consisting of a house stacked on top of a name plate, a dog being chased by a family with a chicken in its mouth being chased by a family, and a little girl catching a bright pink Boeing 747 which had spinning tennis rackets instead of turbines for engines. Nothing that you wouldn't see on a stroll down your neighborhood block, right? It was a stack of what seemed like random things, but everything ended up representing a possible topic of interest between people interacting for the first time. Things like family, where they live, pets, sports, travel, and hobbies all can be remembered by just picturing this conversation stack. So, while it can be nerve wracking and intimidating meeting new people, especially at work, all you have to do is picture the conversation stack. Big thanks to Diana and Dawn for the fantastic presentation. I am looking forward to next week’s lunch-n-learn.
Thanks for reading,
JJ