How to get beyond small talk
Ask open-ended questions that invite people to tell stories, rather than one-word answers.
Instead of "How was your day?" try, "What did you do today?" Other open-ended questions to try:
- "What's your story?"
- "What's the strangest thing about where you grew up?"
- "What's the most interesting thing that happened at work today?"
- "How'd you end up in your line of work?"
- "What was the best part of your weekend?"
- "What are you looking forward to this week?"
- "Who do you think is the luckiest person in this room?"
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Similar ideas to How to get beyond small talk
Try to implore interesting questions
“What’s your story?”
“What did you do today?”
“What’s the strangest thing about where you grew up?”
“What’s the most interesting thing that happened at work today?”
“How’d you end up in your line of work?”
“What does your name mean?
What would you like it to m...
How to get better at small talk
- Have a genuine interest in getting to know a person you’re talking to and learn from them.
- Ask open-ended questions. It encourages the other person you're speaking with to open up.“What do you do?” followed by “Why did you choose that type of work? How did you enter ...
How to ask better questions
- Ask open-ended questions: they unlock more information from people
- Ask “why” 3 times: the easiest way to deepen the level of a conversation
- Ask about specifics, not generalizations
- Frame questions around a person’s reactions to experiences...
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