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In praise of the “unusual” suspects at events

March 24, 2010 By 10 Comments

Yesterday in addition to going to theVancouver Police Museum’s Blood Spatter for Adults, I was invited to a special wine tasting event with wines from Hester Creek (one of our favourite vineyards in fact). It’s no secret that I enjoy wine. I know a little bit about wine, enough to know what I like and I don’t. I’m not, however, a wine expert by any stretch of the imagination. I was, in fact, not “one of the usual suspects” at this event in the least. I know enough to swirl and sniff before I taste. I also let the wine linger a bit before I swallow. And that’s a big difference. Spit out wine! Especially great wine! Heaven forfend!

I don’t go to a whiskey tasting and spit an aged Scotch into a bucket. That would just be wrong.

At a wine tasting I’m totally out of my element. I don’t really know what to ask to say or anything but what I like and what I don’t. My being there, as an “unusual” suspect, wasn’t by accident. Leeann Froese invited me because she knew I loved (and can appreciate) good wine. And that I didn’t usually go to these events.

So while I will post about the wines soon, this post is about something that many groups face, always having the “usual suspects” speak or attend events.

We’ve been having this discussion recently within the Vancouver social media crowd. Mostly focusing on who speaks at events, but I think it’s more than that. I think we’re missing out on new ideas, perspectives, and insights when we don’t keep bringing new people, unusual suspects, to events. I don’t think social media is being exclusionary any more than any other group. People do like to talk shop with others in their industry We have a lot in common, so it’s normal it hang out together. But maybe to mix things up a bit we should all try to bring a new person to a tweet up or Third Tuesday or Social Media Club event.

Whatever we do in the future, I know that being an “unusual suspect” at an event was very interesting and I did learn a lot more about wine that I didn’t know before.

Besides the fact that it tastes good.

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  • http://www.thev3h.com Jon Strocel

    It’s natural for us to gravitate towards our friends, I know I do it. But it’s usually amazingly delightful when you get into situations that are out of your element. The trick is to keep doing it and working that muscle. Great post.

    • http://www.trishussey.com/ Tris Hussey

      Thank you Jon. I certainly hope to have more chances to be “unusual” soon!

  • http://www.thev3h.com Jon Strocel

    It’s natural for us to gravitate towards our friends, I know I do it. But it’s usually amazingly delightful when you get into situations that are out of your element. The trick is to keep doing it and working that muscle. Great post.

    • http://www.trishussey.com/ Tris Hussey

      Thank you Jon. I certainly hope to have more chances to be “unusual” soon!

  • http://raincoaster.com raincoaster

    In Vancouver, we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to social media experts. Really, we are one of the foremost centres in the world for high-level usage and strategy, not to mention development. So, because our usual suspects are so good, it’s natural to think of them first.

    That’s not always a great thing, because it means we’ll miss the new people, possibly with radical change-the-world ideas who are being incubated in the culture that we’ve all built over time. Beginner’s mind, as the Zen monks call it, is a great gift; not knowing the limits of a field means you’re more likely to go beyond the currently accepted limits of the field, possibly even prove the world is not round.

    As well, relying on the usual suspects takes a lot less work than going out and finding the unusual suspects. You know they’ll be good, because you’ve seen them a hundred times before, being good. But once upon a time nobody had ever heard Steve Jobs speak, and once upon a time someone told each and every TED speaker that they weren’t any good. But then, once, someone gave them a chance and magic happened.

    • http://www.trishussey.com/ Tris Hussey

      It’s so true Lorraine, we are lucky here in Vancouver, with so much breadth and depth of expertise, that we can have an event and have a plethora of great experts and great speakers. Tonight is Twestival and I hope some new people come to share new ideas with us. It’s often those questions from “outsiders” that lead to real leaps in our own understanding of ourselves.

  • http://raincoaster.com raincoaster

    In Vancouver, we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to social media experts. Really, we are one of the foremost centres in the world for high-level usage and strategy, not to mention development. So, because our usual suspects are so good, it’s natural to think of them first.

    That’s not always a great thing, because it means we’ll miss the new people, possibly with radical change-the-world ideas who are being incubated in the culture that we’ve all built over time. Beginner’s mind, as the Zen monks call it, is a great gift; not knowing the limits of a field means you’re more likely to go beyond the currently accepted limits of the field, possibly even prove the world is not round.

    As well, relying on the usual suspects takes a lot less work than going out and finding the unusual suspects. You know they’ll be good, because you’ve seen them a hundred times before, being good. But once upon a time nobody had ever heard Steve Jobs speak, and once upon a time someone told each and every TED speaker that they weren’t any good. But then, once, someone gave them a chance and magic happened.

    • http://www.trishussey.com/ Tris Hussey

      It’s so true Lorraine, we are lucky here in Vancouver, with so much breadth and depth of expertise, that we can have an event and have a plethora of great experts and great speakers. Tonight is Twestival and I hope some new people come to share new ideas with us. It’s often those questions from “outsiders” that lead to real leaps in our own understanding of ourselves.

  • http://www.ccltd.ca Leeann

    Thanks for this Tris! As someone in pr and communications it is important for me to talk to the different audiences out there; and you are right, you are not one of my “ususal suspects”; and I am not one of yours… isn’t it excellent when we step into new worlds and stretch our comfort zones and keep our minds open! We can all learn so much from each other. Great post!

  • http://www.ccltd.ca Leeann

    Thanks for this Tris! As someone in pr and communications it is important for me to talk to the different audiences out there; and you are right, you are not one of my “ususal suspects”; and I am not one of yours… isn’t it excellent when we step into new worlds and stretch our comfort zones and keep our minds open! We can all learn so much from each other. Great post!

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