What: I define small talk as friendly conversation, on any subject, that has no specific agenda. There is no formal beginning, middle or end and neither party has something to gain except maybe some good old fashioned knowledge or humor.

Why: Small talk is essential as it helps you establish more personal relationships, which can greatly enhance your professional success. It allows the other person to get to know more about your personal interests and more importantly, common interests. It can also alleviate stress from the professional encounter, allowing a better connection to be made.

How:

Prepare: Become well rounded. Expand what you read. People are “attracted” to knowledgeable and interesting people. For a quick fix, I sometimes tell people to do a quick scan of ESPN, CNN, Bloomberg, and the local news before they run into a potential, “small talk battle zone.”

Practice: Making small talk does not come naturally to many, particularly in a business setting. However, it doesn’t have to be scary either. Practice making small talk everywhere – on line at the grocery store, at the local bank, or waiting in the doctor’s office. You’ll be surprised how receptive most people are to chatting it up, particularly if you have something interesting to say.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 8:54 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.