Ive always been passionate about finding interesting driven people to meet. Theres something nice especially about women if they are passionate about what they do, double so if it involves motherly duties like looking after children, I.e., being involved in primary or nursery schools. Theres something that is just really hot about women who nurse children. In general I enjoy women's company more because they're not as imposing and more accepting of people, though I get a long generally with people who aren't overtly judgemental and have dreams and passions. Its a good mix of energy, I dislike people who criticize ambition or try to put you down, its bad energy.
My motivation when Im traveling is to also just meet people and I find that people who make their own business/startup are generally passionate. Same with professionals. That's why I went to this business event in Philippines after my usual snorkeling adventure where I was surrounded by swarms of sardines and some unintelligent Australian peasant girls that I entertained to kill the time.
The event was... Unexpected. I was caught completely off guard because the website advertising the event was _really_ ambiguous. As in, no real detail, photos, or anything. They said it would be a social event with some drinks and snacks.
So I entered the room 10 minutes late. I asked the guy at the front what the event was about and they said its a social event, and because I was a tad afraid Id not fit in, I explained my background and the guy smiled and told me to just walk in. I walked to see, to my horror, a PowerPoint presentation by this guy who clearly wanted you to join their organization as a member. They sat me in this long table at the very front, and I felt isolated in the crowd not only because I was the only foreigner but also the only one wearing shorts and flip flops.
So they turned to me and went "Introduce your business and how you want to contribute to this organization." Im looking at the 5 question on their round table slide I was supposed to answer in 50 seconds, hitting blank. I have no clue what they're asking me.
"Errr. My name is such and such, Im probably a bit outside of the typical attendee here, I do research for a living."
"What do you do for research?"
I explained to them what I do, and watched the table have the biggest WTF moment of their life, mainly with regard to what I was doing there.
Anyway, the round table continues and I feel like Im off the hook and relax to my seat enjoying the kebabs they offer. I listen pretty intently on what everyone is doing, some were restaurant owners, some work in crypto, some in IT. It was pretty interesting, though to be fair, most of them visibly did not give a shit about what each person is doing, which I found out why later. Some did. There was this young-ish looking guy with a suit who was nodding to everything. The guy who did steaks was great. He helped me dispel these myths regarding wagyu beef later on.
I think ok yeah this is not too bad.
Then its time to get back to the PowerPoint. I get this corporate level presentation about this guy who explains their business ventures, there are some big numbers in pesos on the screen, and Im fighting the drowsiness.
Then they explain the organization, which rewards collecting members, paying fees, and doing like favors for each business. They proceed to make various promotions for the organization for 50 minutes with the sign up QR code for some 10,000 USD to become a member hanging on every slide, where they kept repeating that paying the fee only gets you an interview, cause they are looking for the right person to join.
Then this lady stands up and gives the most cliche speech about how shes looking for the "right organisation" to join, lists bunch of other organizations, and ends with "what sets you apart and why should I choose you". Im kind of excited because the previous 2 hours almost made me sleep and now this lady really put her reputation on the stake and lowkey embarrassed the organisers. I have zero context so I need to scan for people's faces to try to understand whats going on. Two kinds of faces, the organizers who are facing this "challenge" head on. They look "slightly" uncomfortable but are putting up this empathic/understanding front. And then there are the random participants who look super uncomfortable. And of course me, smiling there at the front of the table, contributing my part by intently listening and nodding.
Part 2 later.