1
Hot take: I finally cracked the code on small talk at networking events
I used to dread those chatter lounge meetups where you stand around sipping coffee and trying to sound interesting. Then I tried this one trick where I lead with a specific observation about the room, like "man, that speaker really nailed the part about taxes." It sounds dumb but it totally breaks the ice because people latch onto the detail instead of the usual "what do you do" stuff. Last Tuesday I actually had a 10 minute convo with a guy about how he automated his invoices using some spreadsheet formula. Has anyone else found a go to opener that works better than the standard scripts?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
johnson.faith1mo ago
Oh man, that's brilliant and also a little terrifying that a tax joke actually works. I tried something similar once where I commented on the terrible coffee at a conference and the guy just nodded and walked away, so your mileage may definitely vary with that one. Honestly though, you've probably cracked it and now I feel like a fool for all those years of "so, what brings you here?" garbage. Take this with a grain of salt because I'm famously bad at people, but I might have to steal your trick and just hope no one catches on.
8
joseph_ellis851mo ago
Think you meant to say "two weeks ago Tuesday" since last Tuesday was yesterday.
6