The art of conversation is timeless. Humans are social creatures and in order to be successful, you are going to need to navigate humanity. Here are 10 tips to help you talk to anyone.

1. Make a good first impression with eye contact and a smile
   • People often only remember the first and last thing about you. Smiling is a sign of confidence, kindness and empathy. When you look someone in the eyes, it’s a display of trust and attention.
2. Mirroring – Replicating certain words and motions of the person you’re speaking with. Mirroring lets the other side know you’re paying attention to what they’re saying and treating their views with the close consideration they believe they deserve.
   • Mirroring could also be repeating key words used by the person you are speaking with. Don’t overuse this!
     • An example of this could be, “I’m a huge fan of The Cowboys, but I’m very disappointed in the draft.” You could respond, “The Cowboys Draft?” Then the person will dig in with more details.
3. Be Complimentary – People like to feel good about themselves. If you pay someone a compliment (In a non-creepy way!), it’s going to make them feel good about themselves because of something you just said, you’ll immediately have a friend!
4. Use We and Us in your conversation. It immediately makes people feel like they’re in it with you. This creates a sense of community.
5. Ask the person you are speaking with, how they’re connected to whatever event you are at and figure out who the two of you have in common.
   • If you are at a party, an easy question is, “How are you connected to everyone here?”
   • If you are at a work event, “What do you do at the company? Do you know…?”
   • If you are at a kids sporting event, “Which kid is yours?!”
6. When you meet someone for the first time, be excited and treat them as if you are already friends. That’s going to make easing into conversation easier. Be happy to be with them.
7. When you are asked the inevitable question of where are you from and what do you do. Answer in a long form, not a short.
   • An example of this could be, “Where are you from?” “I’m from a town in Northeast Indiana, are you familiar with Indiana?” OR “I build jet engines for Boeing, but not the ones you heard about in the news!”
8. Be Interested
   • The best way to be interesting, is to be interested! Ask the person follow up questions, play dumb about a subject if you have to. People like to talk about things they’re interested in, ask questions.
9. Practice pauses
   • In conversation, you don’t need to respond immediately. Sometimes allowing a pause gives the person your speaking with more time to put their thoughts together. Just don’t let it be uncomfortably long!
10. If you are feeling bold, bust out a few ice breakers!
    • What’s the single best item you’ve bought in the last year?
    • If you could only keep 3 apps on your phone, what 3 apps would you keep?
    • Who is your favorite fictional character? Who is your favorite historical figure?