Often times, we carry on a conversation with the sole purpose of simply keeping it going rather than trying to make it especially interesting and, above all, leave a good impression on each other with the exchange we each make with your interlocutor, avoiding that it becomes a flat and boring conversation as usual and if you want, it is especially with people with whom you are barely meeting.
Let’s make our conversations with someone we just just met or already know something useful and enriching. A conversation is one of the best moments that, as humans, we can take advantage of to grow emotionally and learn from others.
How to make a good impression in just 5 minutes of conversation
Here are some tips for you on how to prevent a talk from getting boring and meaningless and instead impress your conversation partner.
Here are a series of questions showing how you ask something that you would normally start a conversation with and how it would be best to ask them for a promisingly enriching conversation:
- How are you? -> What’s new with you?
- How was your day? -> How are you doing today?
- Where are you from? -> What do you like most about the place where you grew up?
- What’s your job? Where do you work? -> What do you like most about your job?
- What is your name? -> What does your name mean?
- How was your holiday? -> What did you like about your holiday?
- How are you? What’s new? -> What good things happened to you in the week?
- How long have you lived here? -> What does this place mean to you? Tell me what good things have happened here?
A well-formulated question can make a person tell you a story. There is no way they can respond in the standard way.
Break the mirror
When a conversation goes wrong, a very predictable situation often unfolds which is sometimes referred to as “the mirror.” In order to appear courteous, we often ask our conversation partner standard questions, repeat the words they use in their response, or simply settle on everything they say. As a result, we lose whatever enjoyment we can get from the conversation.
The following are examples of projecting the mirror and the alternative that could help you transform that conversation into something really enriching.
- Juan: What a nice day!
Luis: Yes, it really is a nice day! - Juan: What a nice day!
Luis: Sure, it’s the weekend!
When we “break the mirror,” something special comes into the conversation, and it immediately stops being boring.
Play with the expected answer
Another great way to get out of a boring conversation and make a good impression with the interlocutor , is to avoid giving the expected answer:
Juan: How was your flight?
Luis: Good.
Juan: How was your flight?
Luis: Excellent! The food was delicious.
Juan: It’s hot today.
Luis: Yes, it’s hot.
Juan: It’s hot today.
Luis: It is usually hot in this hemisphere.
Juan: How are you?
Luis: Very good.
Juan: How are you?
Luis: I was almost about to tell you everything in detail.
A non-standard answer to a question will not turn people away from you. In fact, it will attract them because you will appear different from others. Push the conversation forward, ask unusual questions, and offer unusual answers. In this way, everyone around you will be fascinated to chat with you.