Alison Wood Brooks teaches the science of conversation at Harvard Business School. She says it is down to four steps:
Topics Great conversationalists choose good topics and can make a topic more interesting. Research shows that thinking about topics you might want to talk about in advance, even briefly, helped people to move more quickly from small talk and have better conversations.
Asking If topics are the game pieces, then questions are the hands that lift those pieces. Questions allow speakers to respond, interact and build. Mirror questions (where you ask the same question back) are easy but shouldn't be relied upon. Don't be afraid to switch topics with a question. People who ask questions are better liked and are more likely to get second dates in speed dating.
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2025