Introductions

Whether it was a course I taught or one I attended, it was traditional to open the first day of class with a round of introductions.  I preferred to get each student to introduce himself  - or herself in the case of the very few female technicians.  I asked them to tell us a little about their background, about interests outside of work and what they hoped to accomplish in my class.

Other trainers used other approaches.  One that was used often (and the one I liked the least) involved pairing up the new students and giving them about five minutes to get acquainted.  They were then asked to introduce each other to the class.  My biggest objection to this method was that my partner never told the group what I thought was important about me.

Sometimes the result was even worse.  At a Ricoh class in New Jersey, I was once paired with a fellow from Long Island.  He introduced me like this:

“This is Bob.  He says he is a native Texan.  We all know everything in Texas is supposed to be bigger and better, so you’re probably wondering how this little guy  (I was five-seven and about 160) could be from Texas.

Well, he was six-five when he left home, but on the flight up from Houston, his plane hit some bad turbulence over Kentucky, and it scared the shit out of him.”

After the laughter died down, it was my turn to introduce him.  I said:

“This is Terry from Long Island.  He has taught me the big difference between Texans and New Yorkers – We wear the bullshit on the outside of our boots.”