The Fine Art of Small Talk by Debbie Fine

Yes, she brings up the pun. Most of us are terrified of public speaking and that is understandable but many of us are also afraid of walking into a reception room or a conference where we don’t know anyone. In that situation, many of us are trapped by the mental tapes of our youth but we can break those. Human nature is such that if you walk up to a stranger and give them information, they will respond in kind. Such as “Hi, I’m Stasha, I’m a lifestyle coach here for the hardanger class. What’s your name?” Most people will respond with their name, occupation and reason for being there. From that point, you can ask a question that can get them talking comfortably. My problem is that someone will ask me a question to get me talking and I monopolize the conversation or interrupt others while they’re talking because they remind me of something I want to say. Hopefully, I’ll do better in new conversations if I can remember what to avoid and what to do.