In Cleveland there was a gentleman who was acting as an ambassador for a city. He was holding a draw for two tickets and hotel accomodation for a major sporting event in 2007. After seeing the draw I leaned over to the guy I was travelling with and said, “you watch, I’m going to win that draw”.
Over the next three days I executed my experiment: sincere conversation.
Here’s what I observed when I first analyzed the situation: a booth of little interest with a great prize created a situation where there was a tonne of traffic and zero discussion – people dropped a card for the draw and moved on. The guy had a fantastic personality and I quickly found out that he took the position after retiring because of his love for the city.
So what did I do? I listened to his stories. I asked him questions and found out about his evening and his dinner. I told him my stories. And then, I made him laugh. A lot.
The key was that I was completely sincere. I was interested in his stories, his thoughts on the local sports teams, and how his steak was the night before. I spent a few minutes talking with him at the start of the day and whenever I passed his booth. I actually liked him – it would have been hard not to; he was a great guy. But nobody else even said hello. To them he was simply an uninteresting booth with a great prize.
On the last day a voice barked out the winner of the draw over the loudspeaker and I almost died laughing when I heard my name.
Note: edited for a number of reasons.