How to Talk to Non-Drone People About Drones Without Boring Them to Death

Hello fellow and drone mellow pilots, hope you’re doing great!

I just had to fix an internet cable that one of my daughters just pulled clean out of the modem.

I’m not an expert, but if I without any drone repair knowledge was able to repair the landing system of my crashed Inspire, a mere coaxial cable is not much for me. Drone pilots are basically electronics wizards by necessity – we’ve all performed surgery on our flying babies at some point!

Ok, let’s get back to business: For all of those readers that are in a hurry, here is the TL;DR:

You can’t.

The end. How many times has this happened to you? Let me know in the comment section.

Oh, you’re still here?

Well that speaks very, very well of you. And just for that, I’m going to write with my best mood. The hungry one. I just want to eat the world. But first, I’m going to give you the training to talk to non-drone people about drones without them yawning in front of you.

1. They decided to not like drones.

Unlike us, who since we first saw a drone experienced that little spark that ignited our world of expensive flying cameras, they have had that chance and just dodged the bullet: they missed doing pictures like this and saved some (a lot) of money on the way. Their bank accounts might be healthier, but their Instagram feeds are definitely poorer.

It’s like trying to explain to someone who hates rollercoasters why you love the rush of that first drop. They’ve already decided rollercoasters are terrible death machines, and no amount of enthusiastic hand-waving from you will convince them otherwise. Drones fall into the same category for many people – noisy flying cameras that probably want to spy on them (they don’t realize we’re much more interested in that mountain ridge than their backyard barbecue).

2. If you have no other choice, talk about results and not about tools.

Can you imagine how boring it would be if you go to a restaurant and the chef comes out of the kitchen and starts talking about the pots, and the knives, and the cutting tables that he used to cook your dish?

You don’t want to know that. If something matters it’s the food, the final result, the thing that you are actually enjoying.

The same applies to drones and the exquisite videos and pictures that they produce: people “enjoy” the final products. They don’t care about the process, the tools, the techniques, the amount of crashed drones, none of that. They can see a couple of pics, and maybe one or two minutes (if you’re lucky) of an edited final video. But not more than that, because they don’t care.

Remember that time you tried explaining to your uncle the difference between a DJI Mini 3 Pro and a DJI Mini 3 and watched his eyes slowly glaze over until you were pretty sure his soul had left his body? Yeah, don’t do that. Instead, show him that epic sunset shot where the colors look like the sky is literally on fire. That, he might actually care about.

3. We don’t care that they don’t care

At the end, they are just persons like us but with other hobbies. Of course, they will never know how to make a point of interest around a building, or to follow a car, or to put the drone in a position where if you make a horizontal translation, you’ll get the rays of sun passing through a window and create that WOW effect. And we probably will never know how to… sew? make Rubik’s cubes with our eyes blindfolded? make a 360 kickflip?

We are very interesting persons who talk about very specific themes. And we have tight communities (like the one around this website) where we support each other and enjoy what the others have to show (or write 😉 )

4. The Drone Enthusiast’s Survival Guide

Let’s be honest – we’ve all made the mistake of droning on about drones (see what I did there?) at family gatherings or friend meetups. You start talking about your latest flight and suddenly everyone needs to “check something in the kitchen” or “take an important call.”

Here’s my tried-and-tested method for sneaking drone talk into normal conversations:

First, lead with the story, not the tech. “I captured the most amazing footage of whales breaching off the coast” will get more attention than “My DJI Mavic 4 Pro with its Hasselblad camera can shoot 6K video at 60fps.”

Second, have one killer photo or 15-second video ready to go on your phone. Not a 10-minute opus of your entire flight – just the money shot that makes people go “wow.” Then put the phone away before they can fake a medical emergency to escape.

Third, find the one person in the room who shows genuine interest (there’s usually at least one) and exchange contact info. You’ve just found your new drone buddy, and you can spare everyone else from your propeller-based enthusiasm.

5. The Universal Truth

The sad reality is that most people will never understand the pure joy of watching your battery percentage with increasing anxiety as you try to squeeze in just ONE more shot before heading home. They’ll never know the thrill of threading your drone through a tiny gap between trees, or the crushing despair of hearing that sickening “crunch” when a landing goes wrong.

And that’s okay! Because when you post that perfect golden hour shot in our community, WE get it. We know the planning, the skill, the risk assessment, and sometimes the heart-stopping terror that went into creating that single frame of beauty.

So for now, the best tip that I can give you regarding the rest of humanity, you know, the non-flyers ones, is that the ducks never soar with the eagles. And let’s be honest – would you rather be comparing propeller specs with fellow pilots or explaining to your cousin why your drone costs more than his TV? I thought so.

How many times have you found that it makes no sense trying to explain your hobby to other humans? Let me know in the comment section!

And remember, next time someone asks what you did this weekend, maybe just say “took some photos” instead of launching into your 20-minute tale of drone heroism. Their attention span (and your social life) will thank you.