Starting Conversations
Have you ever had difficulty starting a conversation with someone?
Perhaps you’re at a party, or maybe the start of a seminar, and you see people mingling around. Do you sometimes feel self conscious just standing there, and wonder to yourself how you can start talking to others?
You know what? The other folks standing around are probably feeling the same as you. So take the initiative and start getting to know others, they’ll be more than willing to start a conversation with you, and you’ll gain confidence from making the first move too!
Here are some tips to get you started:
1. Greet and introduce
The simplest of all (and the most no-brainer approach). Just walk up to someone, make eye contact, smile, and say hello with your name.
2. Look for something to comment
You can comment on the atmosphere, the decor, or the person whom you are talking to. Just remember, give complements rather that complaints. You can complement about the person’s dressing, accessories, hair, etc. This will act as a platform to link to other topics.
3. Ask questions
Open ended or leading questions are normally the more appropriate ones to kick start a conversation. Open ended questions encourages the other party to talk, while leading questions attempts to guide the other party’s answers. Of course, if your open ended question is not getting any response, don’t be disheartened.
Sometimes, it may be difficult to start expressing our opinions or views when rapport is not strong. So throw in some close ended questions that requires simple one word answers, then follow it up with open ended again.
Here’s an example:
Assuming you have introduced yourself,
Close ended – “Have you been to such seminars before?”
Possible reply – “Yup.”
Close ended – “Nice, when was the last seminar you attended?”
Possible reply – “Hm.. about 3 months back”
Open ended – “That’s quite recent. So what was the seminar about?”
Of course, the above is just an example. It’ll be difficult to list down all possible variations of how the conversation will turn out. Do you have other ways to start conversations easily? Do share it on the comments board =)
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