Our Story
The Trigger story is about asking questions.
It started with this one:
“‘’What do you do?’”
In 2016, Georgie was bored and frustrated with being asked 'what do you do' every time she met someone new.
It felt like she was constantly repeating her elevator pitch to people who didn’t seem that interested. She felt labelled by her job, socially undernourished and disconnected in a world that is becoming ‘more globally connected’.
Sound familiar?
She craved a good DMC (that’s a Deep Meaningful Conversation). Where you can enjoy being in a co-created moment, being seen and present with no idea where it is you are going.
It is organic, playful and full of insights and discovery about yourself, others and the world.
And extremely liberating.
Good conversations are the playground we often get to just by accident.
And she didn’t want to just stumble upon it by accident. She wanted to know how to walk towards a good conversation on purpose and with confidence.
So she asked another question:
“‘’Where can I go to have this conversation craving fulfilled?’’”
Google - sadly - did not provide the answer.
The events she found didn't seem to provide the kick she craved.
So she decided to create her own solution.
Which led to the next question:
“‘’How can we engineer meaningful and stimulating conversations so that they happen more often?’’”
This led to some mini-experiments, committing to a stranger (now friend) called Edwin at The Wilderness Festival in 2016 that she would organise an event for meaningful conversation, and creating a metaphorical conversation menu event structure that very day…
The first version of the conversation menu, written at the back of a notebook at the festival.
The lake at the Wilderness Festival
Trigger conversations was born.
A question about taking action - from idea to execution.
“‘’How quickly can we get launch this event?’’”
✅ Venue located
✅ Logo created
✅ Facebook page up
✅ Event copy and page written
✅ Business cards (with the event link) printed
✅ Event pitched and shared at events, with friends and online communities
✅ Question cards crafted, designed and printed
With the help of friends and the start-up community .... we launched in October 2016.
TRIGGER CONVERSATIONS LAUNCH
We launched our first event in October 2016 to a room of 22 curious, keen and open-minded humans.
The feedback was phenomenally positive (and still continues to be), with people describing the experience as ‘fun’, ‘liberating’ and ‘reflective’.
The next question came from the newly created Trigger community:
“‘’When is the next event?’’”
We hit repeat.
And 45 people rocked up. The word was spreading.
Then 65.
Then we realised that Trigger was a thing… so we kept on going.
As we witnessed the impact our bi-monthly community events had on the community, we began to wonder…
““Who else needs Trigger’s magic?””
So our “experimental phase” began. And here’s what we explored:
We experimented with Trigger Connections, a speed-dating event with a twist - authentic conversation
Ran a series of conversation dinners and one brunch
Collaborated with organisations like Escape the City, UCL, Echo++, Spark Inside and PILnet to facilitate meaningful networking events
Designed and led workshops - in partnership with trainers - to equip people with the skills to enhance their conversation and connection
And of course, we couldn’t resist taking Trigger to Standon Calling Festival!
In true Trigger style the first year and a half was spent in total conversation - with ourselves, the Trigger community and inspirational leaders within the conversation industry. We wanted to get to the core - to understand who needed our magic and how we could help.
The feedback was really encouraging and in that short space of time the Trigger team grew from 1 conversation addict to 9. Oh - and Georgie gave a kick-ass TEDx talk: ‘Talking to Strangers: Having a Meaningful Conversation’.
We’re now three years on and whilst we’re still partial to an experiment, we know who we are and what we stand for.
““So who is Trigger today?””
At Trigger Conversations, we believe life is too big just for small talk.
We see conversation as more than just an exchange of information - it’s an opportunity to strengthen relationships, engineer serendipity and grow.
Today we offer events and training for individuals and organisations. And we know they work.
We’ve engineered over 5,000 meaningful conversations at over 100+ events, 13 conversation training workshops and 3 Transformational Conversation Programmes.
You can even ask some of our clients -
“We asked Trigger Conversations to help our network connect better, and they delivered more than we ever could have hoped.” Marieanne, Corporate Client
“I had high hopes for the programme, realising the many ways that changing my conversations could enhance my life - personally and professionally. I’m emerging at the other end with not only a greater confidence that those changes are possible but with a real, practical sense of how to get there.” Lizzie, Transformational Conversations Programme Graduate Client
“Trigger takes you out of your everyday routine and encourages you to be inquisitive and interested, making you more interesting as a result.” Ian, Trigger Conversations Event Attendee
Gosh we’ve talked a lot!
While we catch our breath, we’d like to turn our final question to you…
““Would you like to make conversation your superpower?””
If it’s a big yes! Then click below to learn more about what Trigger can do for you.
INDIVIDUALS
The door to our flagship event Trigger Conversations is always open! Sign up here to get event updates.
You can enhance your conversation skills either on our Transformational Conversation Programme or with 1-2-1 Training.
ORGANISATIONS
Topics include: 100% Human Conversations For Team Building, Creative Conversations for Innovation or Engineered Serendipity for Stronger Networks.
Training topics include: human connection skills (for internal & external audiences), understanding and managing emotions at work, feedback and public speaking.
