experience matters

I have been thinking about my 20-year high school reunion of late and more than just looking forward to the superficial evaluations of people I once knew and how I rank. Hey, it isn’t just me! You’ve done it too!

The 20-year reunion is different, I think, than the ten-year reunion. After ten years, a lot of people look the same. Many are not yet married nor do they have kids. Some of them may not be what you remember from ten years ago. I remember seeing a girl who, in high school, was quiet, shy and, frankly, homely. When I saw her at my ten-year reunion she may very well have been the inspiration for Katy Perry.

Conversations are short, business-like and usually awkward.

“So how have you been?”

“Great. I live downtown, right on the park.”

“Me too, but I travel to Europe a lot for business.”

“How interesting. I just bought a European car, Mercedes-Benz.”

“Well, I’m glad it has all worked out for you. I’m going to the bar. When I come back, maybe you’ll be more interesting.”

How many impressive things can you fit into a two-minute conversation? I would say four, tops. Then you walk away saying what you should have said in high school but just didn’t know how. And, by the way, that last line above is actually something I overheard at my reunion. I wonder if that person is in therapy now?

After 20 years, things are different. Kids, spouses, mortgages, bigger jobs and, hopefully, maturity all influence the conversations. The same awkward discussion from above might go like this:

“So, how have you been?”

“Great. We live in the suburbs, three kids are growing up fast and work is good.”

“Same here. I try to travel less so I can spend more time with the family.”

“That makes sense. I traded in my Mercedes for a mini-van. It’s official.”

“Well, I’m really happy for you. I’m going to the bar. Let’s grab a drink and keep talking.”

Business-like, yes…but without that stench of “God, you were a stupid jerk in high school and I’m not wasting my time talking to you.”

So what does this have to do with extraordinary experiences? A high school reunion is about reliving the best experiences from one of the best periods of your life. Social media provide a means for reconnecting to people with whom you shared those experiences with. Hell, Classmates was launched for this exact reason. But blogging and communities take this interaction to a much deeper level.

Today I clicked on the blog Serenity Now, written by a girl I knew in high school. She had just written a great post about how she had reconnected with her group of friends before the ten-year reunion and how easy it was to fall back into their friendships. She listed out some of her fondest memories and how much fun they had talking about them.

Serenity Now is part of the Blogher network, defined as the “blogging community for women.” We all know that from a marketer’s perspective, there isn’t a more sought after group than the Alpha Mom, and this is a network full of them. Need proof? Oprah was the skyscraper on the home page.

So if you are a marketer, don’t underestimate the power of these types of long-tail communities. I’m sure when my friend launched Serenity Now she didn’t think that Kenneth Cole would be advertising on her blog. But they are.

If you are a 37-year-old getting ready for your reunion, use social media and communities to try and talk to some of your old friends before the reunion. If you do, you’ll have some people to drink with while you evaluate the lives of everyone else.