The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills
A Gem, short, sweet and very useful,
I found myself walking around day to day saying, "folks just aren't friendly"... my neighbors, church members, parents at my child's school, folks I see every day/week at the grocery store and believe it or not relatives. I think Debra Fine has hit on some of the key reasons that I was not finding folks to be "friendly". Some of the reasons being: we are socialized to be wary of strangers, we think too many questions makes us nosy, introducing ourselves and others is not easy always, initiating, carrying on and ending a conversation is a challenge and lastly, finding similarities and interest in our conversation partners is hard at times.
Ms. Fine advised that no one can wait to be introduced or expect someone else to initiate the conversation and she is right. When I used the suggestions it made a world of difference in the contacts and connections that I began to make. I used the suggestions in professional and personal settings, with women and men and with folks my age and teens.
What I relay to folks when I use these techniques is "I care about you" and "I am interested in you as a person". The feedback I have recieved from people is that I make them feel good, in a world that is too busy I take time. That is really the bottom line about this book, why would I not use the suggestions when the potential is to evoke that kind of feeling from folks that you interact with everyday of your life.
Lastly, I have used this book in many ways. I have passed the book to my husband who works in a technical field is reading the book and has begun using some of the suggestions at his workplace and finding them to be applicable. As a homeschooling parent I used the book as part of a communciations curriculum for my 16-year-old son. Many of the stategies he used to get a job and now to maintain his employment; he has been told he is a wonderful conversationalist.
- Cris McLaughlin (Maryland)
Life Changing Book
This book truly changed my life. It contains tools that actually turned social contact from a dread to a delight for me. Thanks to the tools offered in this book, I am no longer clueless at conversations. I used to believe that good communication skills are inherited not learned, and I surely didn't have them. But practicing the skills taught in this book has actually turned me into a confident small talker. The book has fundamentally changed my viewpoint about social contact. I look forward to parties and social events now and get great feedback too. The book simply and clearly delivers what the author claims in the title. I recommend it to everyone: people who shy away from social events as well as natural smooth talkers.
- Anna (Tennessee)
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