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Never Struggle with Small Talk

Name: Never Struggle with Small Talk
Uploaded: 2024-12-11T14:00:12+00:00
Duration: 43 s
Channel: Shanli Liu, CPA, CTP
Description: In this instructional video, Shanli Liu, CPA, CTP shares three practical strategies to improve small‑talk interactions. First, she advises avoiding…

11 Dec 2024 · 1 min

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In this instructional video, Shanli Liu, CPA, CTP shares three practical strategies to improve small‑talk interactions. First, she advises avoiding static, closed‑ended questions and instead using action‑oriented queries that focus on what people are doing (e.g., “What’s been keeping you busy?”). Second, she emphasizes the importance of phrasing questions to invite open‑ended answers, turning yes/no prompts into story‑eliciting prompts (e.g., “Where are you going this weekend?”). Third, she recommends that when conversational interest wanes, the polite solution is to gracefully end the conversation rather than forcing it. The video delivers concise, actionable advice aimed at making small talk more engaging and less awkward.

Chapters

Here's some tricks I use to never struggle with small talk. Number 1, I stay away from static questions like, "How's home? How's work?" Those are boring topics that just sit there. Instead, I make my questions action-oriented. Those are questions about the doing, like, "What did y'all do this weekend? What's been keeping you busy?" Action questions make it much more interesting. Number 2, how I ask that question matters. Notice that I asked, "What's been keeping you busy?" If I had just said, "You've been staying busy?" That's just a yes or a no answer. Instead, I open it up by asking, "What has been keeping you busy?" Here's another one. "Do you have any weekend plans?" That's closed-ended, yes or no. "Where you going this weekend?" That's much more open, much more interesting. Number 3: If you've run out of things to say, then you've run out of interest in the conversation. Rather than forcing it and the other person noticing, just politely end it. So try that and follow me.