Events & Adventures head honcho, Mark Owen, talked to Blitz about having fun, making connections and guys tendency to basically ramble on and on about themselves. His idea of bringing the outsiders in has saved many people from spending their days alone. Maybe, just maybe he can save you too.
Moment when you knew bringing people together would be your calling
I didn’t start out that way, I started out for fun and it was only later that we noticed that everybody kept getting married.
First time you saw two people at your event make that special connection
I don’t remember the first one necessarily, but I do remember a specific hayride in Seattle that I was on where we ended up getting three couples that met at that hayride that wound up getting married. That was pretty ridiculous.
You’re an expert in the “dos and don’ts” of first impressions. What should guys avoid if they want to land a date?
Definitely avoid asking for a date right when you walk up to them. Also, talking about your self too much is not a good way to go either. Always ask questions and pay attention to what the woman is saying are very important things. They are simple, but people forget them all the time.
Best first liners
Hey, how are you doing?
How do you get past the conversational awkward pause?
I use a thing called FORM. Don’t talk about yourself, don’t worry about yourself – you want to be sincerely interested in other people. Ask about their family, their occupation, what they do for recreation and in our case their membership. If you ask those types of questions you’ll never get all the way through that so there won’t be any awkward pauses. Awkward pauses arise when you’re trying to be impressive and that’s not being real.
All-time most memorable moment
Our moonlight cruises. They can be amazing.
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