Hate talking to strangers at a meeting or party?

Memorial Day is coming up! Have you been invited to a social event? Or maybe you are going to a professional meeting. In either case, you will get more out of it if you talk to strangers there.

Here are two tips to get you started successfully. Before going to the event, start by deciding what you and any other person there have in common. Then craft 2 sets of statements + follow-up questions relating to that commonality. For example, "This is a wonderful party! How do you know (the people who are giving the party)?" Another option is "I saw you at the X session at the conference. What did you think of the speaker?"

Listen for "free" information and follow it up with questions. If the other person says, "From my perspective as a resident of X neighborhood, this plan doesn't make sense, " ask about how the person likes living in that community.

Many more practical tips to start, continue and gracefully end a conversation can be found in "Small Talk: Connecting with Others" at http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?EBooks.