Generally speaking, I'm not particularly a social animal. I suck at, and generally don't enjoy small talk. If I'm at a social activity, it's hard for me to walk up to someone I don't know and start a conversation. And for the most part, I'm ok with that.
So when my boss told me I had to go to a trade show and sit in a booth, I was not excited. I know our product very well. I know how to talk to prospects, find out what they do, what they're interested in, and what other applications we provide that might apply to them. Once I'm talking to someone, I'm pretty good conversationally.
But I had never been in a booth before. So I was nervous. I volunteered to stay back and man the phones. The boss said no chance. So I went.
I showed up about an hour before I had to. Registration didn't show up until 10 minutes before I was supposed to be in the booth. So I had a lot of time to get more nervous. Eventually, I got in the booth with my coworkers and put in a 3 hour shift.
Thing is, I liked it. I am passionate about the technology we provide and it's utility. So getting to talk about it is sorta cool. Other than the setup and tear down of the booth, I'm looking forward to doing another one.
