Me: Hello — My name is Ryan and I’m an introvert.

Others: “Hi, Ryan”

The first step is admitting it right? With Dreamforce 2014 just a few short days away I can already feel my anti-social self coming to the forefront. I’m generally very quiet unless we’ve shared the same social circle for some time. Last year for instance, I sat with my colleague (@KellyLeslie44) at the networking event for 15 minutes while I worked up enough nerve to approach two complete strangers and ask someone about the Google Glasses they were wearing. These sorts of situations always make me as nervous as I was when I was a sophomore band geek in high school asking a senior to homecoming (she said yes — as friends of course).

This year I feel I saw a number of improvements in my “social confidence” if you will. I released a song (I promise to shut up about it after this) to the Salesforce community that was met with a warm reception, and even appeared in a video for a different song with a rather prominent MVP figure in the Admin community. But that’s easy — that’s virtual. In the virtual world, its easy for a socially challenged person like me to come out of their shell. In person — and I don’t know why — its much more difficult for me.

So at Dreamforce ’14 I’m asking for your help. If you see me staring at my damn phone, or otherwise being an anti-social wallflower, publicly call me on it by sending me a tweet so the world knows that I’m not holding up my end of the bargain. A simple “Hey @lifewithryan — put down the damn phone and talk to someone” would suffice. Don’t let me get away with being anti-social. I’m not saying invite me into your conversations or anything like that (that would just be weird) but hold my a$$ accountable. Of course by inviting you to tweet it, I’m naturally still hiding behind the virtual curtain but this way, in case you’re like me, you don’t have to approach me and strike up a conversation if you’re not ready for such things (baby steps man, baby steps).

Of course, I’m going to make a conscious effort in being more social so this isn’t on you — its on me, I’m just asking for perhaps a little nudge if someone sees me avoiding interaction. If you are at all like me, let me know and I’ll do the same for you. Hope to see you at Dreamforce.

 

:wq!