TOP ARTICLES: The Surprise Benefits of Waiting in Line

Friday, September 12, 2014

The Surprise Benefits of Waiting in Line

by Susy Jackson | 8:25 AM March 16, 2011

Velvet ropes, back doors, wristbands, “my name is on the list.” No one ever wants to wait in lines, and we’ve developed numerous strategies to circumvent them. We scan our own groceries or pay for expedited service at the airport. We sweet-talk security guards or maybe grease a few palms to avoid standing with the rest of the common folk, or to save ourselves a few precious minutes. We don’t want to wait for the wonderful thing on the other side of that door. But what if something just as good is waiting in line with us?

Before attending my first South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, I heard a lot of advice: bring plenty of business cards, be prepared to function on little sleep, never wait in line — there’s always something else going on. So I carried a water bottle and didn’t set my alarm clock. But I didn’t follow the last piece of advice, and for that, I’m glad. I came to the conference alone. Like other times I’ve traveled solo, I looked forward to the serendipitous things you only experience while a little uncomfortable and out of your element. I attended panels, ate a few meals for one, and met some fascinating people — most often while standing in line. Sure, many people, myself included at times, had their heads down and eyes too glued to phones, tablets, or laptops to chat up others around them. It’s (ironically, in that sense) the interactive conference, after all. But often, my waiting game paid off.

I met the designer whose agency created the HTML 5 logo, a woman in the documentary film business who spent a year in India as an assistant to a Bollywood superstar, and an American whose company won a grant to open up shop in Chile. He’s been living there for three months and shared that in his opinion, the country’s national dish is a hot dog smothered in mayonnaise. I had lively conversations about the future of publishing and heard a pitch or ten from young, hungry entrepreneurs. All while waiting for the “main event” on the other side of the gate, rope, or beefy doorman.

There is a lot of advice out there on networking, in part because few of us like to do it, or do it well. It can be uncomfortable, and it’s work. All this successful waiting in line means l have a lot of following up to do. And since networking never really ends, my job will never be done if I want to do it right. (Fortunately, there’s hope even if I don’t do it right.) The upside, though, is that networking can also be fun. I’ve genuinely had a great time meeting my fellow queue mates and hearing their stories.

So if you want to grow your network and possibly your world view, I encourage you to hurry up and wait. Instead of feeling exasperated while looking at the length of the line, the tops of your shoes, or the glowing screen in your hand, try being a little uncomfortable and see what might come from it. At the least, you might learn something interesting about hot dogs.