Paul Turney
Dr. Lawson
BCOM 4350.007
Small Talk Journal
Once again, it is time to regale Dr. Lawson with a tale of one of her students talking to
strangers with poorly executed small. Originally, I was going to take the easy route by writing
about how I spoke to a member of my club. I did speak to one of my members, but it was
something that is expected of me so it does not mean as much for this assignment. As my luck
would have it, a golden opportunity fell into my lap earlier this afternoon (March 19, 2014) as I
was running a few errands for future events. This gave me a real chance to improve my ability
speaking with total strangers. This was a learning experience for what I could do to improve
myself, though I did not have much of a hand in it.
I suppose a little bit of backstory is in order. The officers, myself included of course, of
my club we brought in to help plan different aspects of Comet Con, the final event of SUAAB’s
“Springapalooza”. Our main duties revolved around the cosplay contest, fighting game
tournament, video game room, artist’s alley, and to help find vendor’s from off campus that
wanted an opportunity to showcase their business. I had come across a new card shop near
campus that would like to have more exposure at UTD. I could certainly understand and I felt
that I could really help them out by getting them a booth. Earlier today, I went to double check
that they were still interested in Comet Con and have them fill out a couple of forms. When I
went in, the person I had been speaking to was not available so I wandered about the shop and
starting playing a game with a group of gentlemen. This was an interestingly diverse group of
individuals in term of social awareness. I will leave their names out of this write-up since I did
not tell them that this experience may be recalled later on for a grade. Gentleman #1 was your
typical bystander, knew when it was appropriate to speak and managed to keep on topic. I would
be lying if I said it was surprising to find him in a place like that. Gentleman #2 was a little bit
worse in the social regard, but no obnoxiously so. He had a difficult time getting his message
across and would miss a few cues brought on by body language, but, to his defense, where he
was sitting but him in direct sunlight so he may not have been able to see very well. Gentleman #
3, the trouble maker of the group, was the one that I had the most difficulty speaking with. It was
not that he was socially inept, but he would dominate a conversation with topics that were
relevant to his interests. I found it difficult to speak with him because he would make references
to shows and games that I had never seen nor played. I would try to be polite and give a fake
chuckle to his references, though it may not have come across as that, and he would make damn
well sure that I was properly getting his reference. We eventually found some common ground
with books that we had read and our favorite author being Stephen King.
Now for the all-important introspection, what this experience taught me the most is the
importance of reading your audience. I have now witnessed, as well as experienced, what
happens when the audience is not taken into account when speaking and how it can create a sour
experience. However, I do feel proud of myself, I was able to jump into a game, which I did not
know, with a group of people that knew each other but did not know me. I was able to see errors
made not by myself, but by someone who was not looking for them. In a way, it was like looking
into a mirror and seeing an earlier version of me. I wish that I had done more talking during our
conversation, but as I said the third gentleman would dominate a conversation with topics that
interested him with little room for others. I would be able to get a word in when his train of
thought would pull into the station during his turn, but it would not last very long.