Top 5 – Topics for Small-Talk at the Office
Top 5 – Topics for Small-Talk at the Office
I’m writing a little series on Top 5s. I’ll write my top 5s on various topics and I encourage you to write yours.
Ahhh…dreaded small talk. An office is full of people with different backgrounds, different education, and interests.
So what do you talk to when you run into the security guard hailing from
Nigeria, the Yale-educated senior administrator, the HR lead from a small town
with 40 years experience.
Here’s 5 go-to topics
1- Weather. So obvious but it works.
Plus you can go either way – how nice it is or how bad?
2- Holidays – There’s always a holiday coming up. Asking people what they are doing or did is perfect. Cautionary note – during religious holidays, tread carefully and ask vaguely.
3- American Idol – I don’t even watch it and I know what’s going on. So does everyone else
4- Fantasy Football – Everyone has a league. And if they don’t, their colleague or husband or son is obsessed so they have that story
Food - A new deli open up nearby? Coffee shop? Have a pack of Skittles on you? Everyone loves
food. Or they are on a diet and want to talk about that.
You? What do you talk about?
Comment
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Comment by E. Steven Emanuel on March 4, 2010 at 10:21am -
Besides all of the other suggestions, I always try to take the opportunity to talk about the number one (or one and two) business initiative. I leverage the personal, but find it's important to remind folks through small talk, why they are here, why they are important to the enterprise mission and the reason we keep small talk to a minium.
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Comment by Kim Johns on March 4, 2010 at 10:10am -
M&M's
Movies and Mutant Offspring!...if you know that they have children or grandchildren, people love to share the latest escapades and adorable things they do or the trouble they are in. Problem with that is: how do you easily break away from the conversation
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Comment by GovLoop on March 1, 2010 at 8:22pm -
vacation is key...
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Comment by Andrew Krzmarzick on March 1, 2010 at 8:43am -
I love to ask people "Where are you from?"
Inevitably, it seems to lead to a great conversation about their childhood and where they grew up or the place that they currently call home.
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Comment by Sara Cope on March 1, 2010 at 8:04am -
Vacation - Everyone has either just taken one, is planning one, or is dreaming about one they'd like to take.
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Comment by Adriel Hampton on February 28, 2010 at 11:28pm -
I work in San Francisco. Everybody talks about the elected officials.
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