Strangers come together to share stories, build networks

“We came across a bunch of foreigners who had their phones facing down and expressing themselves with so much abandon – we took that as an inspiration to hold our first ‘Stories worth Sharing’ meet in 2017. One year on, we have held events in 61 cities across the country, as well as in Dhaka and Singapore – and this weekend is Chennai’s turn again,” says co-founder Himanshu Poswal. 

Along with the other founder Mohit, Himanshu set about popularising the concept – with an intention of making it a global initiative soon. Though they held a pilot version of the meet last year in Chennai, this time they already have overwhelming participation now that the banner is popular. 

“This is done with the intent of reviving the human interaction, with no judgment. Basically, people from all walks of life - artists, poets, writers, innovators, entrepreneurs, founders, etc – all come together to share personal tales that mean something to them. We started off with open venues, and since then, moved on to restaurants, cafes, college campuses, and so on,” explains Himanshu. 

During the event, audience members can give speakers a thank-you note with writing on what resonated with them during their speeches – followed by an informal session of bonding between all. The event in Chennai is set to be held at the Smoothie Bar in Anna Nagar from 4pm to 7 pm on Sunday. 

“In Chennai, students of SRM University have partnered with us to host this event, and they are really looking forward to it. We keep the age of participants between 16 and 65 – and the participants are mostly youngsters. But we have also had elder people, such as a retired headmistress who mesmerized us with her stories! Word has spread quick – since people who attend Stories Worth Sharing sessions always pass the word on and take the concept with them to different cities around,” the SWS team concludes.