From the course: Small Talk for Non-Native English Speakers
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Adapting and managing the conversation
From the course: Small Talk for Non-Native English Speakers
Adapting and managing the conversation
- Making small talk can be a great way to show your conversation partner that you can think on your feet. If you're talking with a potential future client, business partner or colleague, that is a valuable skill to demonstrate. So, it's important to be able to adapt to different topics and manage the conversation when necessary. Here are some tips to help you do it. The most important thing to do is listen carefully to the person or people you're talking with. If you notice that your conversation partner keeps steering your chat back to the same topic, consider the possibility that they feel particularly comfortable speaking about that topic and adjust accordingly. Make your own contributions wherever you can. If you don't know much about the topic, ask more questions. Take the opportunity to refer to your conversation partner's expertise on a topic. For example, if they keep turning the conversation back to music, but you…
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