I associate coffee shops with certain kinds of people. Not universally, of course, but enough to wonder if you were seeing a restricted set of people with whom you were better able to hold those conversations.
You mention other events, so perhaps I'm totally wrong here. But I'm curious about the ways that the events you picked may have shaped the conclusions that you drew.
No, it was in line at the market, hanging in the park, the driver on a longer drive in a cab, Lyft, janitor, trades people...
What I did was just be opportunistic. Tried to fill some of the time I had learning more about how to just talk with people and have them feel they can do the same.
I had biases, mostly targeting normies and people who looked like they may have a story, rough or not.
What I can also tell you is I have done this sort of thing in my past. It is a simple pleasure of business travel.
What I did differently was avoid signaling "my camp", and tried to signal seeking more than anything else. If they were inclined to talk at all, I was frank and said I want perspective outside my familiar circles, so what is your take on... and go from there.
Sometimes I did not offer mine at all, content to let them share what they thought a curious person from somewhere else might want to know.
The primary thing I was interested in was arriving at a comfortable dialog state, like when you know it won't come back to bite, or be on the news, that sort of thing.
And the things I put above inhibit reaching that state.
You mention other events, so perhaps I'm totally wrong here. But I'm curious about the ways that the events you picked may have shaped the conclusions that you drew.