What the World’s Fair Pavilion Taught Me About Communication, Listening, and Human Connection
Parking, traffic, food, and Queens often serve as sources of inspiration for my articles and talks about communication, listening, and human connection. So it should come as no surprise that my Happy New Year’s social media post includes one of these elements.
This year, I settled on a picture of the New York Pavilion from the 1964–1965 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.
A Symbol of “Peace Through Understanding”
The Pavilion was built as a performance space to celebrate the music and arts of nations from around the world, supporting the Fair’s theme of “Peace Through Understanding.”
Visitors were able to experience a diverse array of cultural offerings and encounter people from across the globe. Towering over the park, the Pavilion even allowed guests to ride an elevator to the top and take in the view.
Today, the Pavilion is still standing—but it has been shuttered for years, awaiting long-overdue repairs.
Watching Over the Chaos Below
While it waits, the Pavilion continues to watch over three major highways:
- Grand Central Parkway
- Long Island Expressway
- Van Wyck Expressway
These roadways were—and still are—among the most congested and active in the region, carrying motorists to other boroughs and Long Island.
To Travel these highways is to experience confusion and frustration at one point or another. Traffic inevitably comes to a dead stop. Someone always cuts someone else off in pursuit of speed or attention. Someone isn’t paying attention. Construction projects reroute traffic and challenge every traveler’s sense of direction.
It’s a guaranteed experience for visitors and residents alike. It’s simply part of life in Queens.
A Mirror for Our Communication Challenges
That area of Queens reminds me of the communication challenges we experience every day.
Like those cars on the highway:
- We get stuck in our interpersonal dynamics
- We stop offering others the gift of listening
- We get lost in a swirl of assumptions and misheard words
- We miss opportunities to connect
- We too often succumb to anger and suspicion
- Sometimes, we don’t see an end in sight
These are the moments when we need to redirect ourselves and rethink our interactions.
What If We Chose a Different Route?
What if we:
- Set an intention to find our version of the Pavilion?
- Used it to listen and gather a wider perspective?
- Created spaces that welcomed multiple viewpoints and cultures?
- Ignored the noise of the blasting horns and daily distractions?
- Embedded a sense of welcome and caring into every interaction?
- Practiced this every day?
- Didn’t stop until we caused—and sustained—a positive ripple effect?
- Ensured that everyone we encounter feels seen and heard?
What Could Happen?
What if the answers to our communication challenges are hiding in plain sight?
Happy New Year’s. Stay safe, well, and connected.
Here’s a few additional sites to research the 1964 – 1965 World’s Fair and the power of intentions
https://www.integrativenutrition.com/blog/intentions-versus-resolutions-shift-your-mindset-in-new-year
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spiritual-intelligence/202501/resolutions-or-intentions-which-leads-to-genuine-change
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Parkway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Pavilion
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Julienne B. Ryan began her professional career at age five when she did TV commercials and learned important things like “the teamsters always eat first,” her social security number and how to endorse checks for bank deposit.
Ryan studied psychology in college because she wanted to understand humans. She conducted her “field work” in a variety of roles, hearing the phrases “merger synergies, reorganizations, downsizing and rightsizing for change” more times than she cares to mention.
Later she enrolled in an Ivy League graduate school where she paid oodles of money to validate her prior on-the-job learning experiences. However, she did learn to name drop up-to-date theories and trendy psychologists with alarming ease.
Ryan evolved into working in “Talent Management,” a fancy way of saying “try to find people and keep them moderately happy.” With inadequate budgets and staff allocations, she had to find creative ways to encourage her staff to work effectively. These ranged from begging and borrowing resources, improvising childcare, telling stories and even giving snacks as rewards. She tried to convince herself that working a bazillion hours and “multi-tasking” equaled achievement.
Her work took place in cubicles, conference rooms or, with luck, in offices with a door. Occasionally she would make the time to emerge from her allotted real estate to really talk to people. Ryan learned something transformative in the process:
Yes, she was effective. But not because she used fancy theories – or gave great snacks. Ryan’s success, her staff believed, was a result of her uncanny knack for weaving storytelling with humor to motivate and encourage them. Crucially, they encouraged Ryan to de-emphasize “that normal HR stuff” and focus on bringing her unique storytelling skills to a broader stage.
Thanks to them, Ryan continues to collect, connect and tell stories in her work helping people find their “true selves in the world of work.
She is the author of the humorous, all true "The Learned It In Queens Communications Playbook - Winning Against Distraction!".that now includes a workbook and is available at booksellers across the globe..
She is a guest contributor to The Procurement Foundry, LifeBlood, and the global storytelling community.
Certifications include
Accumatch (BI) Behavior Intelligence
Narativ Applied Storytelling Methodologies
Collective Brains – Mentorship Methodologies
