Virtual Reunion: The Mindset
Virtual Reunion has been a wild ride — over the past several weeks, I’ve had more than 60 conversations in my quest to rekindle friendships from 10–12 years ago. And more conversations are scheduled or in the works!
My first post in this series explained my rationale for running a Virtual Reunion. I shared some tips for those who might consider reconnecting with their friends, relatives, classmates, or other groups, since the hardest part is just getting started.
In this post, we’ll consider the mindset that I use for these conversations.
In a nutshell, I imagine that I’m at a typical school reunion event. More concretely…
We’re at some venue, casually mingling while carefully balancing a plate of somewhat salty appetizers atop a beautifully-glistening beverage, and everyone’s just catching up.
I turn around, and I just happen to see — you!
Wow — I can’t believe it’s been so long! I immediately wonder how you’ve been and what you’ve been up to. So, we chat about that.
I approach each chat with a very open mind about what we discuss — here’s my loose agenda/question list:
- How are you/your family?
- What have you been up to?
- How’s your career been?
- Any cool travel, hobbies, or activities?
- Have you been reflecting on life, career, or other items? (Any mid-life crisis or crises to share?)
- Do you keep in touch with other classmates?
- Were any classes very useful?
- As well as more specific questions.
And, I’m currently connecting with business school classmates, which is a social and collaborative bunch. So, some of these calls have lasted up to 2 1/2 hours, and eventually my loose agenda goes out the window!
The other piece that I factor in is the random chance element of reunion. We’re talking, but we also see…that guy or gal! And you guys should totally talk.
So, I’ve been sporadically linking friends together where it makes sense, e.g. when they’re considering similar life choices or could potentially collaborate.
One level higher, though, I think about keeping in touch. How long’s it going to be until the next one?
With some friends, we’re already scheduled for the next conversation. We talked for 30 min, or an hour, and we just scratched the surface.
I’ll talk more about this piece in an upcoming post, since I have 2 more chats this afternoon, and the next one is in 2 minutes!
Read more about my Virtual Reunion:
