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Conversation Starters for Friends

Aastha Dogra
Do you become tongue-tied whenever you come face-to-face with strangers? Learn how to make small talk with people and befriend them.
Imagine a scenario where an old, family friend comes visiting after years with his son/daughter who is your age. The parents get busy talking to each other and leave you two alone to mingle and get to know each other.
Since you two do not know each other at all, you are at a loss as to how to start a conversation with him. If you have ever found yourself in such a situation and want to make sure that it does not happen again, here are some useful tips and ideas on conversation starters for friends, which you can imbibe and learn from.

Ideas
Whenever you meet someone for the first time, you should always start with an introduction.
Tell the other person your name, and offer him your hand to shake. He/she will respond in the same manner. Once you know their names, it is time to get to know more about them, and the best way to do that is by asking some good questions like:
What do you do?
This is a simple question, but it's very useful in making the other person open up to you. It will also give you an opportunity to know about their job, educational qualifications, and which school or college they attended.
How do you spend your weekends?
This question will give you a fairly good insight about the other person. You will come to know how the other person likes to spend his leisure time. If he prefers hiking, cycling, or traveling, it can be inferred that he loves spending time outdoors.
If he likes to read, watch TV, or surf the net during the weekends, it means that he is an indoor person. This way, you will have a good idea whether your hobbies and interests match, and whether you can plan any activity together in future.
Where did you grow up?
Another good idea is to ask about someone's childhood or the city they grew up in. Almost all of us have some or the other happy memory related to our childhood.
So the person, with whom you are trying to strike a conversation, will have enough to talk to you about. Also, talking about those innocent moments always brings a smile on our face. Thus, this simple question can serve as an excellent icebreaker between you two.
How did you meet your boyfriend/girlfriend?
This is not one of the preferred conversation starters. Yet, if you have developed some kind of comfort level with the other person, where he has already told you that he is dating someone, you can go ahead and ask this question. People would love to tell their story, mainly if they are in a serious relationship.
What is the most funniest/unusual/craziest/stupidest thing you have ever done or has happened to you?
Before asking this question, narrate a similar experience of your own so that the other person does not feel awkward while narrating his. Funny questions surely serve as icebreakers and increase the comfort level between two people.

Other Topics
Once you have known each other and started hanging out together as friends, there are a number of topics on which you can talk.
Some interesting topics are sports, TV shows, films, favorite books and authors, birth dates and sun signs, favorite cuisines, clothes, holidays or mere narration of some funny incidents. At a later stage, if you become good friends and develop a level of trust, you can even discuss your careers and relationships, and take advice from each other on the same.
You can come up with anything interesting and yet, not too personal so as to start a conversation.
While talking, make sure that you display a welcoming body language by looking the other person in the eye and smiling from time to time. Pay attention to what they are saying and give your opinions every now and then. Just remember one thing: be yourself and enjoy your interaction with others rather than feeling pressurized to make good conversation.