Conversation Starters that Work Like Magic
Starting a conversation is one of the hardest parts of
communication. Some conversations begin easily, but others seem
as if it hard work just to get them off the ground. Having a
good idea of great ways to start a conversation will help you
avoid problems the next time you try to begin a conversation.
There are five basic things you must know about starting a
conversation that will end up being interesting and fun. The
following outline explains how and why they work. Try keeping
these in mind the next time you chose to start a conversation.
1. Do not drill with questions.
The person you are talking with should not feel as if they are
facing the firing squad. Do not keep firing questions at them
without giving your own feedback and actually conversing.
Nothing is worse than feeling like you are getting the third
degree. Asking too many questions quickly will only make the
other person feel uncomfortable and leave them looking for a way
out of the conversation before it has really begun.
2. Be funny.
This is not meaning you need to do a stand up routine, but just
tell a funny story to break the ice. You'd be surprised how
sharing something funny that happened to you will get others to
open up. Everyone loves to laugh and laughing makes people feel
comfortable. This is a sure fire way to lighten up tense and get
people talking.
3. Ask open ended questions.
Open ended questions are questions that require more than a
simple yes or no answer. Open ended questions allow people to
elaborate and this creates conversation. You are drawing the
person out and making them become part of a conversation.
Open ended questions bring growth to a conversation as opposed
to questions with yes or no answers that stunt the growth of
conversation. You can avoid awkward periods of silence that
usually follow a yes or no questions as well.
4. Make the other person comfortable.
You can really get a person talking if they are happy to be
talking to you. Let them initiate topics if you notice they seem
uncomfortable. If you notice they seem distracted ask them if
there is anything you can do to help. Maybe they really need to
talk about something, but didn't want to bring it up.
You can turn a total stranger into a friend by just making them
feel as if you want to hear what they have to say and that you
care about what they have say. Watch invading personal space
also. Stand far enough to give them breathing room, but close
enough to be able to clearly hear them.
5. Bring up a subject everyone can talk about.
The safest bet in starting a conversation is finding common
ground. Pet peeves make for good conversation starters because
everyone has them. You can start off by telling a story about
one of your pet peeves and others are sure to join in.
These conversations tend to make everyone laugh and really enjoy
the conversation. A feeling of camaraderie also forms and allows
everyone to talk freely, making for great conversation.
These five tips can help anyone learn how to be a better
conversation starter. You can use them all or just chose one or
two you really like. Test them out to see how good each works
for you. Knowing ahead of time what you want to say can also
help ease your nerves about a situation.
Keeping these five conversation starter tips on your mind will
definitely help you to be better at the art of communication.