Our Blog Posts will help you reach your full potential in becoming a confident conversationalist. New topics each week.
Are you bored by your colleaguesâ small talk every Monday?
Tired of hearing what they did over the weekend?
Not interested in seeing another video of a kidâs baseball tournament?
If you donât like the topics they bring to the table, beat âem to the punch with a conversation starter of your own. If you donât want to think too hard about it, use one of these sports topics to get the ball rolling and steer the conversation to where you want it to go.
College football starts this week, but what I hope you're starting this week is a new relationship as a result of small talk.Â
Purposeful small talk can help you do that. These sports conversation starters can get the ball rolling.Â
A quick search about small talk and effective small talk reveals lists of questions, articles on the ânecessary evilâ of it and hacks to make it easier.
What if you tried to personalize it instead of trying to avoid it? Instead of arming yourself with a list random questions or looking for an easy way out, what if you prepared for the conversation and walked away from the interaction having accomplished something?Â
If you consider small talk a necessary evil of course youâre going to try and avoid it. If itâs always awkward youâre not going to initiate it and if you think itâs a waste of time you wonât bother putting yourself in position to have the conversation in the first place.
Small talk can be all of those things. Often because itâs not the conversation we prepare for.
We prepare for the big moments and the ârealâ conversation. We think small talk is something we endure or blow off altogether. Â
Except it can also be the most pivotal moment in any conversation. Small talk...
Last week I told you about my goal to not respond with âBusyâ when someone asked, âHow are you?â Update: I mostly succeeded. But I also caught myself giving 1-word answers that werenât very helpful in sparking conversation. I was also guilty of delivering a half-hearted response and not being present enough in some of my interactions to ask the obvious follow up question or make a real connection.
So the goal will stay the same this week.
I talk for a living, but even I need to prepare for conversations and remember to stay in the moment. Every interaction, including small talk, is more gratifying when you do that. Here are a few sports conversation starters to help you prepare for those moments this week.
This week Iâm making it my goal to not say âBusyâ in response to a question like âHow are you?â or âHow are things?â
Itâs accurate to say that Iâm busy, but thatâs not an interesting answer. My life is always busy (especially when sports season overlap this month) and everyone is busy too.
Telling people weâre busy isnât a great conversation starter. I understand that sometimes we really are too busy to talk, but often I give that answer because I havenât taken the time to come up with a better one. (Because Iâm busy, of course.)
So hereâs what Iâm going to do: This week, Iâm going to try to answer the question âHow are you?â accurately and in a way that could prompt a conversation, or at the very least make for a more interesting exchange.
Hereâs what Iâve workshopped so far:
After that Iâll be using one of these sports conversation...
Saying hi is easy.
The sentence that comes next is the one that can trip you up. If itâs always âHow are you?â youâll probably find yourself following the exact same script for every single conversation and you might also notice youâre not getting very far in the conversation.
Avoid the conversation road block by have an actual question or conversation starter at the ready. These sports topics could work.
NFL Training Camps get underway this week. Itâs one of my favorite times of the year, not just because I love football, but because of the networking opportunities in football conversations.Â
This week is a great time to check in with football fans and ask questions like:
Hereâs the important part â you actually need to listen to their response because theyâre giving you an easy way to âcircle back aroundâ in a month when training camp ends and later in the season.
Thatâs when small talk becomes beneficial, when you make a connection and create follow up opportunities. There are a number of topics you can use this week:
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âWhatâs your favorite season?â
Today Iâm borrowing a little inspiration from a scene in Schittâs Creek.
Of course, Moira Rose answered the question with âAwards Season.â My answer would have something to do with my favorite sports season.
Iâll admit itâs a more interesting conversation starter than I initially thought when I laughed out loud at the scene. There are two things here: If youâre not specific with your small talk question you will potentially get a random answer and sometimes you need to think outside the box to spark a conversation.
With that in mind, here are a few sports topics you can use in striking up small talk conversations this week.
Lazy summer days are for lounging and breaking out of your normal routine. Donât stray so far from your conversations that you forget how to talk to people in person or start avoiding all small talk.Â
Make it a point to have small conversations throughout the week. You might be surprised at how much enjoyment it adds to your day and how easy it is when youâre prepared with sports conversations starters like these:
Itâs the easiest sports(ish) conversation starter of the year: How many hot dogs could you eat?
In case youâve forgotten (and how could you?) July 4th is the annual Nathanâs Hot Dog Eating Contest. Competitors have 10 minutes to eat as many hot dogs and buns as they can. Joey Chestnut is the worldâs No.1- ranked eater. He topped his own record last year by consuming 76 hot dogs and buns. Miki Sudo is the top-ranked female eater in the world and set the womenâs record of 48.5 hot dogs and buns in 2020.
Probably more than youâd like to know about competitive eating, but it can be a fun conversation starter with family and friends of all ages. Especially if you throw in questions like these:
Have some fun debates during your holiday celebrations and use these sports conve...
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