Forums > Social Chat > I want to get my friends into poi...

Posted: 6th Feb 2011
I found that the best way to get people involved was just to meet up with them in parks and then leave a large variety of different circus kit lying around on the floor. Most of the people i know picked it up at some point and had a go. Some of the people will actually start spinning properly. Try giving them a go with fire poi quite early on as this generally give people a lot more motivation to learn new tricks. Good luck expanding the spinning community.

Posted: 6th Feb 2011
I saw my first set of poi and decided that I wanted to do that.. then I wanted to light them on fire. My friends slowly picked up toys of their own. I have 2 friends on staff, one on the d sticks, a couple hula'ers and one other friend on the poi.

Then again we are also all going to festivals together and stuff so I had a major hand up in the persuasion.

I agree with the park method and a plethora of toys to chose from, but that can be difficult on a tight budget.

Posted: 6th Feb 2011
Originally Posted By: MolochAll of us are busy during the week so it would have to be on the weekends...
1 friend at a time introduction? I can't do it outside, too weird here... too many gawkers.
Even if I got some people interested, it would be difficult to persuade them to actually pick poi up. I'd have a better chance of teaching them how to unicycle.
I just don't want to hit the bar scene every weekend, would much rather do something healthy like spin or juggle, but I don't want to be anti-social and do it alone, so convincing the friends seems like the way to go.
Punch and pie to lure them in... well, probably pizza, actually...

Very cool to see you're trying to make something different locally for entertainment. Best of luck!

The best advice I can offer beyond what has already been mentioned is to be enthusiastic about spinning. If you already love poi this is not an issue. Use any good opportunity to talk about how awesome poi and skill toys are. Don't brag about how awesome you are, or you might come off as arrogant. People become curious when somebody talks about something with such interest. It's also a good way to meet other local spinners or performers when people see what you're doing and name drop.

If you can find somewhere outside or at least a large indoor area that would be good to allow multiple people in the room to play around. And there is nothing wrong with people gawking, as long as they aren't teasing you or trying to be jerks I find it is a good way to become comfortable to being watched. Again most people are simply curious and more people will be interested than adverse. Plus in a high traffic area you will meet a lot of people outside of your usual scene.

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