4 Simple Tricks to Keep a Conversation Going!

Strik­ing a con­ver­sa­tion can be dif­fi­cult for some peo­ple when they are not “trained” to do so.  Most of us believed that it is the per­son­al­ity or a gift given dur­ing birth!  Per­son­ally, I feel that the belief holds cer­tain truth.  Of course, learn­ing some con­ver­sa­tional skills can also assist an indi­vid­ual lack­ing in con­ver­sa­tional skill improve his abil­ity in keep­ing the con­ver­sa­tion going.  At times, we run out of things to say and there is an empty silence that fol­lows when topic runs dry.  So, how do we cope with run­ning out of topic and keep­ing the con­ver­sa­tion going?

1. Build up your list of words for con­ver­sa­tion. They can be through read­ing, lis­ten­ing or writ­ing.  Pay atten­tion to new and exist­ing words used in dif­fer­ent ways, and learn to use them cor­rectly.  This is done every now and then in your every­day life, before actual con­ver­sa­tion.  More often than not, peo­ple are lost with the right words then the thoughts.  They lack the abil­ity to express their words in a more vivid man­ner.  They lack the abil­ity to join, break, make sim­i­lar­i­ties or dif­fer­ences, or inter­link their sen­tences (thoughts) together.  And this can be a prob­lem when you want to express or influ­ence your part­ner in con­tin­u­ing the conversation.
2. Start with com­mon top­ics such as the weather, fam­ily, job, com­pany, neigh­bour­hood that he is liv­ing in, finan­cial mar­ket, chil­dren, edu­ca­tion, hob­bies, inter­ests and the recently released movie.  You see, it can be any­thing!  You may find that these top­ics are bor­ing! How­ever, not only these top­ics allow you to under­stand your part­ner bet­ter, it can also spawn off many more top­ics for your con­ver­sa­tion than you have thought off ini­tially!  Talk­ing about per­sonal stuff can also build trust and open up your part­ner.  In the event that you run out of topic in a con­ver­sa­tion, look back on the list here!  We are sure that you still can con­tinue with the con­ver­sa­tion with these every­day top­ics. J
3. Watch out for break points in the con­ver­sa­tion or sen­tences. Use these break points as junc­tions for you to inject your sen­tences or express your thoughts.  Not only can you rec­i­p­ro­cate with your part­ner, by agree­ing or dis­agree­ing with a sim­ple nod, you get a chance of sway­ing the direc­tion of the con­ver­sa­tion.  How?  These break points are good for you to switch topic smartly and gra­ciously.  You can use, “By the way, I recently…”, “Any­way, have you watch…” which are some exam­ples to sway the con­ver­sa­tion to another direc­tion.  How­ever, do find the cor­rect break points.  By inject­ing at the wrong time, or com­monly known as inter­rupt­ing, it illus­trates your impa­tience, insen­si­tive­ness, lack of inter­est and courtesy.
4. Finally, watch out for key­words that your part­ner is using.  These key­words are used by your part­ner for a cer­tain rea­son.  Key­words can also be used for you to find avenues to spawn another topic or ques­tion.  Two things you should do on key­words: (1) acknowl­edge it and (2) keep track of it.  By acknowl­edg­ing, you affirm your under­stand­ing of your part­ners con­cerns.  This is impor­tant as humans “want to be heard”.  By keep­ing track­ing of the key­word, you have a new avenue to spawn a new topic to con­tinue with the con­ver­sa­tion.  Exam­ple of acknowl­edg­ment: “I’m reluc­tant…” can be responded with “I see that you may not be com­fort­able with…, how­ever, would it be pos­si­ble to tell me more about your actual con­cern?  I like to address it with my capa­bil­i­ties…” Exam­ple of track­ing key­words: “I love watch­ing TV series” may open a pos­si­bil­ity of a topic on movies (through sway­ing) where you can respond in “What about movies? Do you watch movies too?”

These are just some tricks that can be used for you to keep the con­ver­sa­tion going and avoid being in the moment of silence leav­ing every­one feel­ing a lit­tle uneasy. Share with us if you have other tricks too! J

Related Posts

• How to Get Peo­ple Talking?
• What Cus­tomers Really Want!
• Slow Down and Win Customer’s Heart!
• 10 Top Tips to Improve Communication!
• Build Strong and Unbreak­able Net­work List!
• 4 More Rea­sons You Should Be Del­e­gat­ing Your Tasks!
• Get Peo­ple to Absorb Infor­ma­tion the Way You Want It!
• 7 Steps to Resolve Cus­tomer Complaints!
• 6 Mis­takes to Avoid in Emailing
• 4 Ways to Beef Up Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Skills