Herbert Pronchow once said that in order to have full attention of the person you are talking to, you have to talk to the person about himself. Listening to what others have to say about himself makes you a great person to talk to, as you have great listening skills. However, one way of starting a conversation with someone is by engaging in small talk. Small talk is great and it creates a friendly atmosphere. Small talk is a great way to get to know someone, and to start a lengthy conversation. Small talk also allows for informal exchange of basic information. It can also boost your confidence when approaching people at work, in school, or in your community.
There are things that you have to take note of when you engage in a small talk. Before you come up to someone, try to check for common interests that will be interesting enough for the person that you want to approach. Make sure that the person you approach is in a receptive mood. Also, when you do small talk, make sure that you establish eye contact and to give receptive gestures to make the other person aware that you are listening to them. If you are approaching someone for the first time, make sure that you avoid talking about overly personal and controversial issues like money, personal and family problems, sex, politics and religion, divorce and death. These topics can easily make a conversation emotional, and can even end up in a debate.
When you engage in small talk, here are a few interesting topics that you can talk about:
- Talk about the setting
One of the best ways to approach someone for a small talk is to talk about the setting that you are currently in. You can talk about the cold weather, how hard the rain is or if like the ambiance of your workplace. The person may either blow you off, or be courteous enough to respond, but at least you got the conversation started, then once the person responds, you can ease up into a conversation.
Talk about how their day went
Asking a person about their day is another great idea of doing small talk. It’s actually one of the best small talk topics because it encourages the other person to talk about their day no matter how their day went. When someone tries to tell you about their day, you can start giving response signals and leading questions to start the conversation. You can even help someone say what’s on their mind about a bad day and make them feel better!
Give Someone A Compliment!
Giving someone a simple compliment about a new tie, a great job, or something new that they have can be a good way to engage in small talk! It is one way to make a person feel good; you can definitely get a great response in giving someone a compliment. Just remember to make the compliment simple so you don’t sound “too engaging” or “too desperate” to start the conversation.
Ask them about their upcoming plans
A great casual topic can be someone’s plans, like plans for the weekend or plans what they plan to wear on the upcoming office party. However, you have to be very careful when you go for this topic as you don’t want to sound too noisy. Just ask a question or two, and then let them volunteer whatever information they want to share then start a conversation from there.
There are more topics that you can use in engaging in small talk ant these are just a few of the best on the list. Just remember to scale up the person very well before you approach them for small talk to ensure that you will have a successful attempt in starting a conversation with the person that you want to approach. However, if you get blown off, don’t stress it out! Just look for another person to approach! Just have fun with it, do it regularly so engaging in small talk will feel like a normal routine for you and you will master it in no time.
