For the past few days, I have been digging deep through the OMO archives. Interesting discussion has arisen from looking at what I wrote as far back as two years ago and how much of it still holds true today. Yesterday, we discussed your social media checklist and one comment kept coming back was the importance of human contact.
Here is a post that was first published last July.
Box of Silly Questions
During my 20+ year radio career, I had the absolute privilege of conducting over five hundred artist interviews. The biggest were the most nerve wracking but for the most part the easiest to chat with once you got rolling. They had done this before.
Do you double down on 16?
They knew you knew they knew you knew who they were. It was the snotty arrogant half-song no names that were the crap shoot.
I had done this enough times that it became apparent that I needed to make the process more interesting to me and hopefully to the audience.
What was the first album you bought?
Think of the conversations you have with the people you just meet. Your drinks haven’t arrived and you have to say something. Work chat is easy but is that all you got?
How many shirts do you own?
There were some serious questions and frivolous ones. This was a place to put the topics unrelated to the artists’ work.
This was a list of those gems that brought real life in to the interview. Rock stars do live in the real world; they have families and drive cars and have dreams and all that was represented on the list.
Did your father own a train set?
Do you still have your first royalty pay stub? Are your parents proud of you? Has it turned out exactly how you figured it would? What are all those people who made fun of you at school thinking now?
Can you name your grade three teacher?
Over its lifetime, the list grew with topics that spanned as wide as the human mind and beyond. Everyone participated and the answers were priceless.
As the chatter increases around social media, something you may want to pay close attention to is your ability to navigate social situations. Once past the blogs and tweets, we eventually have to operate real human interaction.
Addendum
This is not to suggest each meeting turns in to a fuzzy discussion but rather a reminder that we are all just people. And perhaps better than weather chat.
Do you have a box of silly questions?
@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.
image credits: 3dissue.com
