At one point, your now best friend, boyfriend or wife was a stranger.
How would your day change if you wore a nametag all day? Would you talk to more people, would you be more open to a conversation? Let’s find out. Liverpool will be the first city in Europe hosting a Nametag Day event, encouraging people in the city to wear a nametag, get people talking and start random conversations. On Friday 3rd June, four spots in Liverpool city centre will host volunteers handing out nametags; at St Paul’s Square, Central Station, Baltic Creative and Liverpool ONE. In the morning, at lunchtime, and ready for the evening commute, people will be encouraged to wear a nametag with their own details on it. You never know, you just might meet someone special.
Technology was meant to bring us closer together but has sadly pushed us away. We catch up by looking down, we connect to each other’s WIFI’s but not with each other and we only like things through Facebook. Although we hold our phones, it’s them that have us in their hands. Often, the very thing preventing us from a talk with a stranger is something as simple as a name. It’s, after all, the one thing we all have in common. Even though Liverpool can feel like a village sometimes, it can get pretty lonely out there. These conversations and interactions can mean everything to people and can be the start of something beautiful.
Zarino Zappia is from Awesome Liverpool, who are organising the event in the city.
“Our pavements are full of people looking down at the screens having conversations online but not in real life. Wearing a nametag is quite a bold statement; it says you’re ready to be talked to, to have someone have a conversation with you”.
“Liverpool’s a friendly city – aren’t Scousers the friendliest people in the UK? – once people start talking to each other they’re happy to keep going. Nametag Day will be the ideal way to kick off those conversations”.
Andrew Beattie, an Awesome Liverpool Trustee, initiated bringing Nametag Day to Liverpool.
Established in the US, Nametag Day is held on the first weekend in June and is designed to encourage cities to be more open. Liverpool joins a list of cities in 2016 including New York, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Vancouver taking part in Nametag Day.
Get involved and get to know someone. Find out more about Awesome Liverpool here and sign up here.
Photo by Carl Yeates