How to Get People Talking?

Do you find your­self accept­ing the idea of attend­ing net­work­ing ses­sions or social gath­er­ings (or any other types of gath­er­ings)?  Why is that so?  The prob­lem lies in the neces­sity to talk to peo­ple.  Strik­ing con­ver­sa­tion can be dif­fi­cult to them.  Not to men­tion the need to main­tain the con­ver­sa­tion.  Most feel there will be a prob­lem when top­ics run dry, the con­ver­sa­tion becomes dif­fi­cult to fol­low through and the silence will make them feel uncom­fort­able.  It is def­i­nitely a prob­lem but how do we over­come this prob­lem?  Today, we will share with you five con­ver­sa­tional tips to get your part­ner and you feel­ing happy and inter­ested through­out the entire conversation!

1. Be open about your­self – The first thing that you should ever do when you want peo­ple to talk is to be open about your­self.  Being open about your­self allows peo­ple to be com­fort­able with you.  How?  You give them trust by shar­ing infor­ma­tion about your­self first.  In this way, peo­ple respond with theirs.  If you do not start some­where, then it will be dif­fi­cult to main­tain the con­ver­sa­tion for long.
2. Avoid talk­ing too much of your­self – Being open is the first step that you should take too build trust in a con­ver­sa­tion.  How­ever, avoid the loop­hole of talk­ing too much of your­self.  This becomes self-centeredness and attempt­ing to put the focal point of dis­cus­sion around you.  A right touch (amount) of self infor­ma­tion that por­trait open­ness is good.  Too much of it will irri­tate and bored your part­ner.  They will only view you as being self-indulging and liv­ing in your own world.
3. Be gen­uine curi­ous and inter­ested about your other part­ner but – Be gen­uine inter­ested in find­ing out more about your part­ner.  By being curi­ous about your part­ner, you tend to come out with ques­tions that can relate to your part­ner.  When your part­ner finds that you are really inter­ested in them (and after build­ing trust between you and him), he will more likely share more infor­ma­tion with you.
4. Give the right bal­ance amount of atten­tion to every­one in a con­ver­sa­tion –In a group con­ver­sa­tion, usu­ally, there will be one or two “alphas” that lead the con­ver­sa­tion.  And usu­ally you are one of them as you are tak­ing the lead to get peo­ple talk­ing.  Be it any con­ver­sa­tion; give rights to every­body for them to voice their opin­ion.  If they lack the ini­tia­tive to speak, ask for their opin­ion or con­sen­sus instead.  Exam­ple, “Mary, do you agree with the Joe’s com­ment about banker’s salary?”  In this way, the intro­vert Mary will not feel left out in the con­ver­sa­tion and you assisted to be brought into the conversation.
5. Bring sim­i­lar­i­ties of topic in a con­ver­sa­tion – Another tip in group con­ver­sa­tion where there are indi­vid­u­als that lack ini­tia­tive in voic­ing their opin­ion; Assist to bridge sim­i­lar expe­ri­ences of dif­fer­ent indi­vid­u­als together.  Exam­ple, “Joe loves rock climb­ing.  He does that every week­end!  Hey, Mary, you are a rock climber too right?”  In this way, you bring two expe­ri­ences (topic) together and a com­mon topic both Joe and Mary can fol­low through.

Use these con­ver­sa­tional tips to get peo­ple talk­ing!  Are there other tips that you used to get peo­ple talk­ing in a con­ver­sa­tion or to break the silence?

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