How to Find Things to Talk About

Tap to Read ➤ Rujuta Borkar

Don't know how to find things to talk about? Look no further, Here we help you in your quest and provide some solutions.

Everyone hates awkward silences, especially the ones encountered when you meet a new person. What to talk about after meeting a person for the first time? How to initiate the conversation? And what if all the known topics get over real fast? What after that? These questions trouble most of the people.

When awkward silences start happening, they seem to accumulate more and more. Partly because you don't know the person and partly because of the pressure you put on yourself. How to get rid of that? First, be very, very calm. And two, literally prepare yourself. Make a mental note of the things you'll be talking about. It really works.

So here's another trick of starting and maintaining a conversation- just talk about the other person. Things about them and related to them. Seriously. People love nothing more than talking about themselves. And not like an egoistic deal, it's just the way we are built and most of the time we end up doing it unconsciously.

So if you learn how to get the conversation flowing with some of the guaranteed conversation starters, then you'll be pleasantly surprised at the minimal breaks in conversation that will happen.

Given next are a few topics that are guaranteed to get the conversation flowing. Many of you will go 'I knew that', but... knowing and putting it into action are two completely different concepts. How to put them into action and how to make small talk is what you'll learn here.

Friends and Family

Friends and what one does with those friends is one of the topics that can enthrall any person for long. Start asking questions about his/her friend and see how the conversation starts rolling.

Don't be dull and ask mundane questions like What are your friends' names ? or What do they do ? Make it more interesting by asking questions like What is the craziest thing you've done with your friends? or Who is the most daring friend you have . It's definitely not mundane and they'll start talking.

What's the advantage of asking these questions? You'll know a little something more about them. As far as a family is concerned, tread a little carefully. Don't ask really personal questions when you don't know the person. But get them talking, it will.

Job

There needs to be no introduction given about how a job becomes important to someone. So then just ask what they do, how they do it, whether they enjoy doing what they do. Ask about annoying company rules or co-workers who get on their nerves.

People love talking about their jobs and you don't need to sugarcoat this one―just be direct and there will still be no problem getting them to talk.

Hobbies/Common Interests

Hobbies is where you can turn the conversation to fun topics to talk about. In fact, you can take it a step further and start talking about your common interests so that your 'fun', 'serious' or 'whacky' side shines through as well.

But what if there are no common interests and you're done asking about the hobbies? Get in some random, silly ones. Here's how you get in some topics that are not the run of the mill ones.

Go on a random question-answer round―something like these: Would you ever wear a pink shirt or are you averse to that color? (If it's a guy) Would you ever go bungee jumping? Would you prefer a dare or the truth? Have you ever done something stupid because of a crush? What is the craziest thing you've done in college?

Would you rather walk a hundred miles or sit in a bus next to a person with bad breath and body odor and no escape route. These are some random conversation topics that cannot offend anyone and they'll also give you an insight into the person's life. In fact you can also try to add some witty ones or those that border on flirting.

And that's it. That's all there is to finding things to talk about. All you need to do is tune in to the other person, understand what they are all about, and once you get them talking with these small tricks, there will never be a dearth of topics.