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but try something different. Perhaps, hello, did you see the game last night?' would start no end of banter for at least a good few minutes and lead on towards other topics. Of course, the leading question depends on your familiarity with the person but there are a lot of things out there to talk about.

It is vital to keep the conversation going once they have answered you. Hello, did you see the game last night?' could be followed by, yes, what a shame they didn't win.' This leaves you with the opening to follow up with something else like, where did you watch it?' Make sure that you listen and try to build a rapport with the other person. There is always somewhere to find common ground and it's just a matter of getting to that place. Try to lead in to a story as a good anecdote can always build the dialogue further (as long as it's appropriate). If it goes well, try to pass some of the control of the conversation on to the other person. Get them asking the questions as this will make life much easier for you. Don't base the whole conversation on yourself but talk about them as well.

Some people are naturally just better conversationalists than others but there are certainly ways to control it. If you can start off on the right foot, nature will take its course and you'll be having a full on chat before you know it.

Learn more about this author, Marc Steel.
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