Meeting new people is a pain. Not that new people are inherently annoying (although some of them are), but figuring out how to meet them is exhausting. Of course you’re interesting and fun and charismatic and you smell great too, and if you could just start in the middle of the relationship, everyone would realize that right away. It’s getting there that’s the problem.
Now I’ve been standing on stages (and platforms and the occasional pallet of rough-cut deck boards and sometimes the floor of a casino right next to the slot machines) for about 15 years now, so I can tell you from experience that it is a great way to meet people – because you never have to introduce yourself! Because after you’re done, people feel like they know you already, so they come up to you! (At least the ones who liked what you had to say. The other ones exit quietly while you’re not looking, but they probably weren’t worth getting to know anyway.)
Thus, the best way to introduce yourself to new people is to find some way to not actually have to introduce yourself to them. How exactly do you do that? Well, what about….
Have Someone Announce Your Entrance!
This happened all the time when people powdered their wigs (“I have the honor to present the Honorable Lord Puffington and Lady Anklewright!”), and then we stopped doing it. Why?!?! What an easy fix! The gig economy has shown us that there are apparently millions of people who were dying to be taxi drivers and professional grocery shoppers, which means there have got to be people who would be happy to announce your entrance into work (or a baseball stadium or your local insurance agent’s office) for a nominal fee!
Get Yourself a Billboard!
A little more money, but totally worth never having to introduce yourself to anybody ever again. Some kid in Utah did this with his annual bonus as a way to find a date, and do you think he has to tell people who he is anymore? Nope.
Get a Dog!
People always come up to you if you’re walking an adorable dog. And the more dogs you have, the better it will be. In fact, dogs’ adorableness goes up exponentially the more of them you have. That’s why three puppies are six times more adorable than two puppies. (Just be careful, though. There is an upper limit to this!)
Wear 100 “Hello My Name Is…” Tags!
Best idea for a networking event I can think of. Will some people avoid you because of how unimaginably weird you’ll look? Yes. But plenty of others will appreciate the humor, and aren’t those the kind of people you’d rather do business with anyway?
I could go on, but my market research suggests that you won’t read anything longer than this. Good luck not introducing yourself to people!
