🕺How to Meet More Interesting People

If you want to do more interesting things and meet more interesting people, be a connector.

Connect Interesting People

Whenever you meet someone interesting, think to yourself—who do I know that this person should be connected to?

Write an email introducing your two friends. Say something about why you think they should be connected. Something like:

“Hey Rob, meet Jessica. Jessica fronts a rad Seattle band called Deep Sea Diver. They just released a ​new music video​. Jessica, this is Rob. Rob has played the violin on probably some of your favorite records, from Sufjan Stevens to Bon Iver and even Taylor Swift. He just played with Sara Bareilles at the Kennedy center in a ​series of concerts​ celebrating her career and songbook. Y’all are both awesome, and I thought you should know each other!”

Notice that in the message, I have included something recent that each person has created, so that they hopefully have something to talk about.

Even better than an email is to have a party or an event where you can invite both friends to connect them.

You never know where the connections might lead.

I want to tell you a story about a chain of interesting connections, which all began with my former student, Mike.

Mike organized a music industry panel and invited Rob Moose and Jessica Dobson (the Rob and Jessica from the example above) to participate. It was in the thick of the pandemic, and we all met over Zoom.

Rob and Jessica hit it off as friends, and Rob ended up inviting Jessica to stay at his cabin on an island off of the Pacific Northwest Coast. He’s rarely there, he said, and she could use it as a writer’s retreat when he was gone.

A couple years later, I was hanging out with my friend Daniel Rhine, who plays bass with the amazing singer-songwriter Madi Cunningham.

Daniel invited me to the green room after their show, where I met Madi. Then after a few minutes, Jessica Dobson walked in.

Someone had connected Madi and her, and they were finally getting a chance to talk. I said hello to Jessica and we talked briefly about how we met at that event with Rob Moose, the one Mike organized.

Jessica introduced me to her husband Peter Mansen, who’s also in Deep Sea Diver, and we ended up talking. I introduced Peter to Daniel, who was talking with another L.A. musician whose name I forget. We all talked for a while, and then I headed home.

It was an extremely interesting night.

What’s the point?

If Mike hadn’t taken the initiative to organize that panel, and if he hadn’t thought to invite Rob and Jessica, they may never have gotten connected. I never would have said hello to Jessica in the green room, and wouldn’t have met Peter either.

And do you know who I was most grateful to that night?

Mike.

Because Mike was the one who connected us all.

If you want to meet more interesting people, be like Mike. Be a connector.