Lifestyle & Culture

Sit Down, Start Talking (With Strangers)

Weekend photographer Jorge Ortiz III, 24, was walking through Manhattan snapping pictures one Saturday in October 2013 when he spotted a group of men and women sitting on couches in front of the Jacob Javits Center—which is an odd place for a couch to be.

“I walked over to check it out,” said Ortiz, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice student from the Bronx.

He ended up sitting down and chatting with Jennie Liang and Michael Scotto, the people who put those couches in front of that West Side convention center.

“We talked about so many things,” said Ortiz, adding that he sat on one of the couches around 5 p.m. ” … We sat there for hours talking about the process and structure of buildings. I didn’t arrive back in the Bronx until five in the morning.”

Ortiz also ended up partnering with Scotto and Liang, two of the people behind FreeConvo, a project launched in September 2013 aimed at “connecting real people in the real world.” Ortiz was so excited about what FreeConvo was doing to get people talking—in a time when so many text or email, rather than converse—that he signed on as its photographer.

FreeConvo’ co-founders, Scotto and Tony Cai, are hoping that more people will connect through FreeConvo events. The two also said they hope more people will buy into FreeConvo’s belief that there should be more face-to-face social interaction in more and more public places.

“We believe there’s a design flaw in this city,” said Scotto, 28, an investment banker with Barclays Capital. “Nowadays, there [are few] public spot[s] to sit and meet other people, especially one that is free. We try to provide easy accessible areas to meet other people … A place like a bar doesn’t encourage comfort. It allows noise and distraction.”

So far, FreeConvo has plopped its couches and chairs down on sidewalks and other spots in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In New York City, in addition to the Javits Center, FreeConvo has put seating near Union Square, Astor Place and Washington Square Park, among other spots.

This is how FreeConvo came to be: On July 27, 2013, Scott and Cai saw an old couch and a pile of cardboard boxes in an alley in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They wrote “Free Conversations” on a box and invited passersby to sit and talk with them. Some people did sit.

Now, up to 200 New Yorkers at a time have joined these conversations on days when FreeConvo sets up around the city, Scotto said.

In addition to talking people outside of their usual circle of friends, some people also are developing their social skills, he added.

According to Scotto, FreeConvo’s open invitation to dialogue has led to some memorable moments. At an Atlanta music festival, one guy asked his girlfriend to marry him while Scotto was hosting a chat.

Also, Scotto said he’s seen two complete strangers meet at a free conversation location and then leave together, still chatting.

FreeConvo’s goal during these conversations is not to steer people in one direction or another on any political, social or any other issue, Scotto said. Nevertheless, some conversations have gotten so tense that the talkers stopped talking and left.

“We have had some antagonistic people sit down,” Scotto said. “It kind of turns into a devil’s advocate situation. Somebody will come with a strong opinion that may seem controversial sometimes, and we talk it out.”

Erasmus X, 24, enjoys talking and listening, and recently signed up as a FreeConvo member. As a member, he has shown up at several free conversations, sat down and chatted and invited others to join in.

“It may seem easy,” X said. “But you really need to have the right patience and attitude. Most conversationalists have to deal with territory of the mind, and we have to respect” what others say and think out loud.

Scotto added that FreeConvo is only a means for socializing. “We’re not like a therapy session,” he said. “FreeConvo just invites people to have something to talk about, as well as someone to talk to.”