You are the Shy Employee

Shared Background

ING is holding a week-long offsite in Manila, which corresponds with a two-day APAC finance and tech conference at the Manila Convention Center. ING invited senior leaders and various other employees from around the globe.
One of the events ING arranged is an afternoon-long event at a private membership club. Over 200 ING employees will be at this event for an evening of dinner, drinks, bowling, and a live jazz band. 

It’s an opportunity for ING employees to mingle, get to know others from around the globe, rub shoulders with senior leaders, and have fun in a lively atmosphere.

Shy colleague: Private information

For this role-play, you are a shy employee. You like doing research and writing but don’t usually speak in business meetings. You prefer to work alone, and when needed, you have good conversations and collaborations with your ING team members. You avoid giving speeches or leading discussions. You dislike networking events because they feel forced and you often don’t know what topics you should talk about. One reason you are at this event is because your manager said it would be good for you to meet other people from ING.

You are about to have a conversation with another ING employee that you’ve never met. While you are having a drink and enjoying listening to the jazz band, the colleague suddenly walks up to you.

In this conversation, you are free to talk about yourself as little or as much as you want. Use a mix of your real-world attributes & interests while role-playing a shy, less talkative person. You are free to discuss and ask your conversation partner about:

-ING business
-general business topics and news
-personal interests, hobbies, and life

In this conversation, plan on balancing your quiet nature while trying to make a real connection with your partner.