Once they've decided to approach someone, many people freeze up at the prospect of finding exactly what to say. They might be surprised to learn that most people can barely remember the first thing a person says to them, instead they remember the situation surrounding how they met. This is great news for you as it means that it really doesn't matter all that much, anything that gets a conversation going is absolutely fine.

You can use almost anything as an ice-breaker, a simple introduction through to an open-ended question. Still, some of the best are situational things - talking about the things happening around you is one of the most relaxed and comfortable ways to meet people. Most people do it all the time in their day-to-day activities - you both reach for the same item in a store, smile to each other and say sorry; you exclaim at someone's cute puppy as they walk it in the park; there are myriad of different ways we naturally make contact with other people about our day to day lives.

Unfortunately it isn't always that easy to find something situational to get a conversation started. If anything out of the ordinary happens you can ask them, "Did you see that?" but a lot of the time you're going to have to be a little more imaginative, say when you're standing together in a queue. Just look for something in common about your situations - were you at a bus stop you could open with something as simple as "These seem to take forever don't they?"

That's more than enough to get a conversation started, although obviously you have to take it somewhere from here. Always you should be looking to add something to their day to create a kind of comfort between you and them, a way to make the whole situation fun and memorable. This is best done with some kind of joke or humour; carrying on with the previous example you could press on, "Why do you always insist on making them late? Seriously, can't you do anything to speed them up?"

Obviously it's important to smile throughout the whole thing, and generally have fun with the other person. It's not hard or painful, it's just a natural interaction with another person and a way to meet someone new. The more fun you have with it, the more fun they will too!

Learn more about this author, Adam Lyons.
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