Hello.
No,
not Adele.
It’s just me,
Andrea. We haven’t met yet.
But I think we will, one day soon.
I’ll be the one writing in a notebook with a pencil, drinking coffee;
there’s one chair free, it’s opposite of me. You may hesitate momentarily at the idea of sharing space with a stranger,
then decide to walk over and ask, “May I sit here?” at the same moment I raise a Limited Edition Blackwing from the page, glancing upward with a kind smile and say, “Of course.”
I make room for your laptop, textbook, newspaper, iPhone, hard drive, earbuds, glasses, tissues, and whatever else you remove from the knapsack on the floor. As you place the cold/hot beverage on the corner closest to your dominant hand and pull out the creaky wooden chair, folding your frame into it.
Seconds, minutes, hours pass in silence. Then you sneeze, I say Salute. Your eyebrows either furrow in confusion or you’re serious, and your not-so-serious face cracks a smile. Then you pull an earbud from your ear and we start talking about different customs on how to respond to sneezing. We debate the best way to cover your nose and mouth (hand or inner elbow) and rate the softness of tissues. I remember carrying twenty tissue packets on my trip to Asia and still not having enough. You laugh and nod knowingly.
I smile. You smile. Boom: we’ve connected. The stories we exchange become a part of our daily tapestry, anecdotes we retell later to co-workers, friends, and family. A debate we post on a blog, across social media or even at our local. They may even inform a purchase when we run out of tissues.
A chair scrapes against the floor, a phone rings nearby and the ambient noises float back to the foreground. You check your watch, I check mine. We say our goodbyes, maybe even exchange information.
Humans thrive on creating emotional connections. We connect through our stories, learning about the world and each other through shared experiences.
Conversational storytelling creates moments for brands to make real-life connections with consumers.
If all you have is this one moment,
how will you use it?
Share your stories.
Right here,
right
now.
This post originally published on Medium in June 2016.
Photo Credit: David’s Mighty 3
modern vintage ink 