Conversation Cafe - Wallingford - Halloween

Come chat with strangers in a low pressure, supportive environment the day after Halloween.

Tickets

15 on Eventbrite or 20 at the door. The first 20 people to use the link below to get a $5 discount.

www.eventbrite.com/e/2003264493025/?discount=DECENT

Optional: dress up to celebrate Halloween. 👻🧛🧟 Completely optional.

Agenda

6:15 Doors open
6:30 Intro and Warmup
6:50 Convention rounds
8:00 Social hour
9:00 All done

Overview

The aim is to make it safe to "fail" socially, then use that to practice, play with, and develop social skills. That means it's totally expected for people to

Run out of things to talk about
Miss a social beat
Have inconsistent eye contact

Or whatever else you might be working on
This is your place to experiment, by "messing up" and having a chance to try again (and again).

Format

Rounds of 8 minute one-on-one conversations.
You pick who you want to talk to each round, or let someone pick you.
Walk up to them and say "Hi" to start the round.

Ways to Play

There are three main ways to participate in the event

Structured - walk up and invite them to pick a conversation card to discuss.
Supported - walk up and try to find something to talk about. Use the cards as backup if you hit a dead end.
Open ended - don't use the cards.

Feel free to switch between them or build your own lane

(Optional) Things to Practice

You don't need to practice anything - just coming to chat is already an awesome way to spend the evening. However, if you are interested in taking some small risks without big consequences, here are common skills people play with

Active Listening - validating, paraphrasing, follow up questions
Not hiding behind questions - sharing and relating in equal measure, so your partner gets a chance to know you too.
Asking follow up questions - it's not inherently invasive - many people are waiting for someone to be genuinely interested in them
Getting to depth - finding a way to shift to meaningful topics.
Banter - keeping things playful and fun.
Slowing down - if you're uncomfortable with silence, see what happens if you don't.

And many many more. Bring your own, pick one of these, or skip it - whatever you pick, have fun with it.

Excited to see you soon! Reserve your tickets at Eventbrite or drop in day-of.

www.eventbrite.com/e/2003264493025/?discount=DECENT