Extravert vs. introvert: the 50/50 nature of content strategists

In a month, I’m going to a conference: Confab 2011, a full three days of content strategy nerds milling around downtown Minneapolis.

I’m excited, to say the least. But, I’m also sort of nervous. Meeting people isn’t my strong suit. I kind of hate it. I overcompensate. Then I brood. Then I cry a little and look around for an exit.

It’s why I became a writer and it’s why I morphed my skills for the web and it’s why I still have that aching dread of having to introduce myself to a stranger.

With Confab, though, one thing prevents me from being too put off: these are my people.

These are people who dive into words and spreadsheets and lists of metadata and find themselves at home, up into the time that they feel too disconnected and venture out to meet people.

Meeting people means talking to people. And we talk long enough to remember that we really don’t like to meet people, and then we go back to our rooms and write things and play around in Excel until the whole thing begins anew.

As one very famous content strategist (who we’ll call Christina Halgerson) confided, “I like meeting people for about 30 minutes and then I want to go take a nap. I’m one of those 50/50 split extrovert/introvert people.”

What an awful cycle. We need a support group.

Oh. I guess that’s what Confab is, eh?

(Originally posted at Black Marks on Wood Pulp)