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What would you say is one of the hardest things about meeting new people? Inevitably when you are engaged in a conversation with someone new there will be awkward moments of silence. The trick of course would be how do you overcome those moments and better yet what are some of the best ways to avoid those moments altogether. Admit you have had those moments when all intelligent thought seems to leave your brain and you have nothing to say.
One of the best things to talk about and best ways to keep the conversation going to talk about other people. Unless it’s some sort of random meeting most times people meet new people at events either social or business related. It’s in these types of meetings that you can ask about other people that may be in the same social or business circle and find out how they may know them or relate and this will usually generate a whole new avenue to keep the conversation going.
Another good way to avoid the awkward silence is to bring up current events. Just pick a subject that may be in the news that day, most people will have an opinion that they are willing to share if asked. Doesn’t matter if you are inquiring about sports, movies or politics they are all good conversation movers. One thing I think so many people tend to fall back on is to bring up the weather. This to me is a silly question that really doesn’t lead anywhere, how bout this weather? Yeah it’s something….. Wow that lasted all of 10 seconds in your conversation, skip the weather!
One other thing that will help your conversation stay out of the awkward silence is learning to match a persons body language. When you pay attention to a persons body language and you learn to synchronize your movement to theirs you will find that it is a powerful way to put people at ease. When you put people at ease like that you will find that the effort to keep the conversation going will be more free flowing. I know I have written about the importance of body language before but this is a key component to any conversation especially those ones you have with new people. What are some of your tips for keeping a conversation going and avoiding that awkward silence?
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