I recently attended my first sales event and I’m happy to report that it was a wonderful experience. The event was a polyamory (a.k.a. poly) conference, and my marketing consultant would confirm that this was an ideal venue for my (first) book which involves a polyamorous triad.
Marketing principles are based on finding our niche and audience, cultivating it, and sticking with it, but what I loved about the event was the variety. The fascinating mixture of people, and the amazing selection of products made by the other vendors.
I thrive on variations and contrasts, and at the conference, I met people of various ages, ethnicities, and occupations; librarians, teachers, healthcare workers, and businesspeople.
In some cases, there was an overlap with the LGBTQ community and/or kink practitioners. I was comfortable with all of it as well as happy and proud to be included.
There are as many ways to practice polyamory as there are people and contrary to what you might think, there is not a specific type or demographic for poly practitioners. It might be that hemp-wearing trio at your local farmer’s market, but it could just as easily be the accountant next door, your mail carrier, or the sweet older lady who brings you cookies during the holidays.
There are a few common denominators, and it was this mixture of varied personalities, and common traits that led me to the poly community.
One of the first articles I read about polyamory discussed some of those traits. In general, poly people tend to be open-minded, curious, emotionally generous, thoughtful, and smart. My personal experiences have confirmed this.
By now, I’d taken it for granted that most people knew something about polyamory. It has made its way into several recent movies and TV shows. Just about every mainstream media outlet has done at least one story about it, and there have been a few highly publicized books on the topic. But while I was sitting in the convention center lobby, I overheard a conversation. A woman was talking to a trio of other women and asked about the event.
“Poly what?” she queried.
One of the women explained that the word is a combination of “amorous” (love) and “poly” (multiple or many). She went on to explain her relationship with the other two women.
There was a pause, and I waited to hear the first woman’s response.
“Yes, but who does the dishes?” she asked.
I didn’t hear the answer because everyone was laughing so much, but I imagine that the trio works it out the same way any other household does.
There may be some interesting variations in what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms, but the basics of life are the same for everyone. We all work, pay taxes, cook, eat, clean etc. We all want a place to feel safe and comfortable, and we all want and need companionship. And we all deserve kindness and respect.
Thanks for reading
Eileen Blake
