Swedes are rather stiff people, whereas the other Nordic peoples are not. Germans are very stiff, Mediterranean ones open and outwardly and including. I guess the JW communities are rather similar to the people of the area in general. Some JWs from a more open part of the country move to another part and are surprised at how stiff people are in the congregation there and vice versa. But non-JWs doing the same, experience the same. Some areas are more closed than others. And a couple of strong personalities might influence a whole congregation. Tell a joke as part of your talk if you hold talks in other congregations, and you will find that in some congregations they will laugh heartedly, whereas in others not a facial muscle will move - which might be rather embarassing for you as a speaker .....................
But one thing I notice, and that is the more or less reverential attitude the US JWs obviously have towards the GB. Not so here, in general. But I guess that is because to us, they are remote, physically, they are at the other side of the Earth and strangers to us. I was at a convention here quite some years ago, when four of them were guest speakers, and those four were the among old ones, Henschel et al., but no-one cared, they pretty much stood together as a group during breaks, and there was no crowd of hangarounds to say hello. But by the way, a couple of years ago another one visited, and it was announced from the platform that it sould be possible to have one's photo taken together with him afterwards - but that flash should not be used .............. reminded me of a pop star's visit .............. so perhaps the new members are not as "shy" as the old ones.
