The furniture was set into place, the drinks and snacks looked inviting, and TINT & Cosmos were ready to welcome all the participants interested in the “Strike Up the Conversation” event.
The TINT team has recently changed a lot, so the new student assistants, Kasper and Gergely, and me, the new program manager, were very curious about what this evening would bring.
TINT & Cosmos presented themselves to the students so they know where to find a community and events focused on life questions and personal development if they ever feel the need. Then, Laura Curta, the event speaker, took the stage to give everyone a lot of tips to start, keep and end a conversation. In between, she led fun activities to break the ice and provided interesting conversation cards for the one-to-one conversation rounds so participants could put the theory into practice with out-of-the-box topics.
Especially during the one-to-one conversations, everyone seemed to have a good time getting to know each other, with lots of laughs, but when the bell rang to change conversation partners some were upset to not be able to continue the lovely conversations they were having. As the evening progressed, people seemed more and more at ease around each other and friendships seemed to arise.
While the participants were doing the exercises, we could not help to also use the conversation cards ourselves. Our card said “What illegal things have you done that were for a good cause?” and believe me, you will get to know your colleagues in a much different way.
By the end of the event, we were happy to hear in the feedback round that participants really enjoyed the event, that they felt challenged to get out of their comfort zone, and that such an interesting event made the time fly by. To my surprise, when everyone was free to go home, most people stayed around chatting with each other. One participant standing all by themself told me that they still found it difficult to approach people for a conversation, but not much later, another participant walked up to him and they seemed to have a nice conversation ever since. At 22 ‘o clock, we had to ask people to leave the Common room, and still, most of the participants just gathered outside again to keep on chatting.
It was lovely to see that we were able to bring these people together and give them a great time. While cleaning up the space, our team was reflecting on the great evening and successful first TINT event of the year. At this moment, I felt blessed with our amazing team, because even though it was late, I did not feel I was working. I was just having a great time with my colleagues.
So, all in all, it is great that I can be part of this lovely team that focuses on inspiring students and helping them with the questions they encounter in life. Also, I am really looking forward to all the events that are still to come (such as the one next week).
Did I already spark your interest? Have a look at our event page.
I hope to see you there!
With love,
Kimberly Drabbels
Program manager at TINT