Not another day at the office

Some time ago I had the privilege to perform before a truly captive audience at one of Sweden’s correction facilities. That was quite an interesting experience and the audience was not that different from the kind of crowds I normally meet, maybe just a bit more sceptical.
New Years Eve I also met a different kind of crowd. I performed at one of Uppsala’s student nations. (The organisation of the students into different nations is a long tradition in Sweden, at least in the older university cities.)
It is always different to do a show for students in Uppsala compared to any other gig, not only because there is always some inquisitive and intelligent people in the audience, that you can find anywhere. Not only because students in general are a cheerful crowd that love everything a bit different, you can find good audiences at many other venues. No the big difference is all the familiar faces in the audience.
I have studied for a long time at the university and many different topics so it seems like I always have people that know me from one course or another in the audience. This time I met people I have studied critical thinking, theory of science, rhetoric, psychology, and cinematic storytelling with. Besides old classmates I also met one person originally from the same village as me, and an old acquaintance I actually know socially.
One effect of having that many people that already know you in the audience is that they will be much more likely to remember you afterwards so from a networking point of view it is beneficial. But what I really like with already knowing your audience is that there are so many other things to talk about afterwards so I do not need to be the “mentalist” all the time.
Of course it is still so that the majority of people don’t know me from before and it is fun to get to know new people, hopefully some of them will remember me.