This morning, I arranged a couple of meetings at my club and I decided to hang out in the “President’s Lounge” between client chats.
Never been to the Lounge, but quickly discovered this is where I will probably spend my retirement days. Hopefully I will be as active as half of the octogenarians who were hanging out in here after their morning tennis matches, Pilates classes, or yoga sessions.
While I was pretending to work, I was really eavesdropping. Many of the hall of famers surrounding me had just come back from down south or even more exotic locales like South America. Getting ready to head south myself in a couple of weeks, as I’m sure many of you are, kept me even more interested in their chats.
One woman told a funny story about a time when she was vacationing in Florida and a stranger stopped his car to ask for directions to a local restaurant. After she told him, he offered to drive her, as it was the same place she was headed. While she was attracted to the young man (who was in his 50s, so you can judge her age), reason swayed her to reject the offer. To which the stranger replied, “Mom, it’s me… get in the car.” Her group thought it was the funniest thing ever, that she didn’t recognize her own son (he was making a surprise visit to Florida).
On its own, this story isn’t all that funny. You may not have even cracked a smile. Have to admit I almost burst out laughing, but didn’t want to blow my cover. When the storyteller added a footnote about how embarrassed she was to be thinking, “This guy in his 50s is cute and I think he is flirting with me,” I had to look away.
I will never find out this woman’s name, but if I saw her again, I would like to express my appreciation for her story. You see, I love great storytellers. You probably know that about me. It’s an art that I hope won’t be lost as we become more and more of a tech-enabled society. In fact, storytelling should thrive as mankind continually invents new ways to communicate.
It makes me want to request a change to the expression “Social Media”. Why can’t it be “Story Media”? Isn’t that what we really do with it?
Over the next few months, I am off to more conferences than is reasonable. But I love conferences. IEG. IMG World Congress of Sports. SportAccord. CSTA Sport Events Congress. Mixx Canada. Innovation Uncensored.
Why so many? I’m looking for the best stories, whether in a keynote, in a roundtable, at a reception, or over lunch. I’m a story hunter. One of my clients refers to me as a gossip. I hope (think) she is joking. Because stories are my passion. Information is my currency. Insights are my value.
And I don’t get these riches from machines or screens. I get them from you. Industry neophytes. Marketing veterans. Everyone in between.
So when I see you in the next few months, I hope you recognize me. Because I will be the guy asking for directions.