“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”

― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan

One of my favorite tennis players of all time is Andre Agassi.  If you haven’t read his memoir, Open, do yourself a favor and read it.

In it, he writes about how his dad rigged up a tennis ball machine to catapult tennis balls at him to hit at 110 mph.  

He was six years old.

The point is that when you are sitting on the receiving end of fundraising “pitch”, it can feel like having balls launched at you at 110 mph.  As a fundraiser there’s So. Much. You. Want. To. Say.

But, remember, there’s only so much that the person across from you wants to hear.

Instead of approaching meetings like you’re chucking tennis balls at top speed, approach it like a tennis match.  The best conversations go back and forth effortlessly.  There’s give and take, and engagement.  You bat the conversational ball, they send it back.  

Tedium happens when you’re just trying to dodge the balls and praying for the meeting to be over. 

Be charming, not tedious in meetings.  75% them talking, 25% you talking.