Y’all know the dance. You’re at the conference mixer, name tag crooked, drink in hand, and here it comes… the Small Talk Tsunami. “How ‘bout this weather?” “Busy week?” “So, what do you do?” It’s the corporate script, a conversational autopilot where we’re not personal, we’re just busyness. We trade these little packets of nothing like baseball cards, getting through the interaction without ever actually arriving in it. We talk at each other, knock out one topic, another one appears. It’s professional Whac-A-Mole. And we wonder why we feel more drained than connected, more performed than present. The truth is, that small talk you’re using as a bridge is actually a wall, and it’s keeping all the good stuff out.
What if we just… didn’t? What if we decided to disrupt the script? Instead of asking, “How are you?” we had the audacity to ask, “What’s a story from your week that made you smile?” This is the heart of what I do as a Spoken Word Poet. It’s not just about crafting the best Spoken Word Poetry; it’s about cracking open the human code. That’s the work of a Motivational Poet—to turn data into dialogue, to make Spoken Word an experience. When I’m on stage, I’m not talking to a room of job titles. I’m talking to the person who feels unseen, the leader trying to find their footing, the human who just needs to know they aren’t alone. It’s the philosophy that a Grammy Nominated Poet Sekou Andrews stands on: find the person behind the profession, the story behind the status.
So here’s the challenge. The dare. The pinky promise to yourself. The next time you feel the words “crazy weather we’re having” bubbling up in your throat, just… don’t. Interrupt yourself. Ask something with a heartbeat. Ask, “What’s lighting you up outside of work right now?” or “What’s a win you’re celebrating, big or small?” It might feel awkward. It might feel uncomfortable. Good. That’s how you know you’re growing. You’ll go from being just another name tag to being an experience. And that’s how you become one of the most inspiring people in the room. Be the Vanguard Artist of your own connections. Ditch the weather report and go make some waves.
