The single best advice I ever got on conversation is “ask questions the other person will enjoy answering” which sounds insultingly obvious, but almost nobody does it, and it instantly makes conversations vastly more fun.
Saved by —— and
“Don’t worry about being the most interesting person in the room, just try to be the most interested person in the room.
• The interested person asks about others and leaves a good impression because people like talking about themselves.
• The interested person is genuinely curious about someone’s craft and learns a lot about how things work.
• The
So if you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener. To be interesting, be interested. Ask questions that other persons will enjoy answering. Encourage them to talk about themselves and their accomplishments.
Caring about their answers will put the other person at ease, but more importantly, it will often put you at ease too. It will get them—and you—into the mode of inquiry, the mode of curiosity, the mode of conversation, and the mode of learning.