FR: You gotta start somewhere

FR for 10/25/2008 – Nightgame

I went out for nightgame with Trackstar, James Bond, Pandaman and Lester (?) on Saturday. I was actually not going to go, as I had been out all day for daygame and the headache component of my flu/cold/whatever was starting to kick in. I called up Trackstar and he insisted that I come out for at least an hour. And so I went (thanks dude).

My objective for the night was to 1) get comfortable with being out at night, and 2) to get comfortable with opening sets. As the title of this post suggests, you have to start somewhere.

I think I opened about 3 sets in 2 hours (I was sick and my voice gave out so I left early). Most of them were just short 2-3 minute conversations about nothing in particular, and none of them went anywhere… but I opened, despite feeling hesitant to do so.

The whole evening has me pretty excited – I’m starting to see what’s possible if I stick with nightgame, and I have a much clearer picture now of where I need to go to develop this aspect of my skillset.

I have learnt to be comfortable just being in a nightgame venue. I remember sitting down, and everything’s going on around me – people talking, cheering, drinking… whatever. I am fine with just sitting there and calming observing, which is a huge leap over how I felt last time I was out for nightgame (nervous and shaky).

When I was opening sets, there was that initial hesitation which I will label as approach anxiety. But once I was in set, I was fine with talking – no nervousness, no shakiness, no increased adrenalin or anything. What this indicates to me is that my immediate objectives for nightgame should be to:

• Commit to how many sets I will open in the 4 hour window. I think 6 sets a night is a good target for next week, and I will try to work this up to 12 over a few times out.
• Create some sort of structure or framework or stack to use in nightgame. One of the things I noticed this week was that while I didn’t run out of things to say, none of the sets hooked. I could have gone on talking about the usual stuff I discuss in daygame… but my delivery was not high energy enough to hook the set, hold their attention and start generating attraction. I will take a second look at Tim’s Flawless Natural method and the frames and structure that he utilises.
• High energy and self-amusement (having fun) seem to be essential to nightgame. I am going to construct some rituals to perform prior to going out at night that will put me in that state. It may also be prudent to have a ritual for when first entering a venue – e.g., approach the first set I see, and keep approaching for 20 minutes to set the tone for the rest of the night (credit: Tim).

- whim

Tagged as: nightgame, reports