I’ve always got something to say

Weekend Conversation Workshop

As I am writing this, I am currently in Noosa relaxing and enjoying the sun. Later on I’m going to take up surfing. Something I’ve always wanted to do but never got around to. Especially after seeing the movie Point Break. It’s feels great to escape having had an intense weekend. Over the weekend, I underwent a conversation workshop with 7 other guys ran by my coach Matt and his awesome sidekick Nicola. Going into this I was a bit nervous but excited at the same time because holding a conversation has always been a problem for me and here was an opportunity to get this handled. Was this workshop going to fix my problems give me the answers or was it a waste of my money? My biggest sticking points as far as conversation goes were:

- Running out of things to say

- Making conversations fun and playful

- Establishing a connection

- Turning things sexual

- Relying on repetitive routines

The workshop involved drilling different conversation techniques. I must say after the first few exercises, I felt my conversation skills improved ten-fold and with practice I could be really good at this. The best thing about it was I wasn’t relying on routines. I was drawing upon my life experiences and also using what is given to me from the person I’m talking to.

Fieldwork

We went to Spice Market to practice our skills. As I was driving up I was a bit nervous as I wasn’t sure if I would put the skills we practice during the day to use or would I’ve revert back to routines. I approached a few groups (some with assistance of a wing) and at first I was using routines and reverting back to what I knew but once I got comfortable with my surroundings, I began using the skills that we had practiced during the day. Conversations were very easy to get into and I was having fun with lots of girls and girls were having fun with me. It was a great feeling knowing that for some of the groups, I left them on my terms and not because I had run out of things to say and felt I could come back at any time. I also felt that there was no pressure to pick up and that I was practicing a new skill which took away the dependency on the outcome.

Day 2

The next day we did a debrief of last night. Personally, I was really happy with how I went and was happy to see others doing well also. Day 2 was geared more towards the sexual side of conversation. For me I’ve struggled to turn conversations sexual and have always steered towards nice guy conversation. Though I’ve struggled with this I feel that with a lot of practice I can get good at this.

I really value having done this workshop. I feel it has allowed me to smash some barriers that were holding me back. As long as I put myself out there and put the skills to use I can’t see why I can’t be a conversational master.