Why are some people so good at small talk? Able to instantly engage with people they've just met, make their conversation partner feel at ease and like the most important person in the room? Able to seamlessly move from one conversation to another without awkwardness? It doesn't take a special gene to do those things. In fact, there are techniques and skills we can employ to help us be more confident in these situations. Stanford Business School lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams identifies best practices for spontaneous communica tion in his new book, THINK FASTER, TALK SMARTER: HOW TO SPEAK SUCCESSFULLY WHEN YOU'RE PUT ON THE SPOT (Simon & Schuster). In this excerpt from his book, Abrahams shares tips and tricks for mastering small talk.
NETWORKING AND SMALL-TALK SITUATIONS- the epitome of spontaneous speaking-make many of us cringe. Initiating and exiting these brief, informal encounters can feel incredibly awkward. During the encounters themselves, most of us feel as if we never quite know what to say and how to say it. We want to seem witty and interesting, but chatting breezily with others-whether at informal cocktail parties, corporate all-hands meetings, mixers at professional conferences, events at our kid's school or at many other gatherings-can seem like an endless verbal tennis match of spontaneous remarks, queries and feedback. It need not be this way. With some cognitive reframing, a useful structure and some specific guiding principles in hand, we can learn not just to survive small talk but to actually enjoy it.
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Falling for Romance
A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters
Cracking the Norse Code
Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans
Monumental Shift
The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves
'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'
It is a well-known fact across the globe that the North Korean regime is irrational and unpredictable, but we have been consistent in strengthening our defense posture against the threat from North Korea since the Korean War, and I believe that their conventional capability is much inferior to that of the Korean military.
'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'
Like Paris Hilton, Natasia Pelowski claims she was subjected to abuse at a teenage therapy program
Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout'
Vladimir Putin admits difficulties” as the country’s key interest rate reaches a historic high
China's 'Silent Chemical War'
The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance
HARSH HEADWINDS
President Yoon Suk Yeol's BATTLE to reform a South Korea beset with structural problems under the specter of an increasingly aggressive neighbor to THE NORTH
Bridget Everett
BRIDGET EVERETT NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D BE THE LEAD OF A TV SHOW. \"I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don't happen, you don't find yourself with three seasons of HBO.
Amber Ruffin
A LATE-NIGHT COMEDY SHOW ON CNN? YES, and it's a game show, too.
