Go to your friend’s awkward open mic and clap loud. Showing up is the compliment.

Attendance is a form of speech. Turning up to something small and slightly embarrassing tells a person that you took their attempt seriously enough to spend an evening on it, which is a statement no amount of encouragement over text can match. The quality of the performance is beside the point and everyone in the room knows it.

Go to the next thing someone you care about is doing, especially if it is minor. Sit near the front, clap properly, say one specific thing afterward. Presence costs you an evening and lands as something much larger on the other end.