The better your conversations, the better your relationships. Being able to start and continue interesting conversations leads to partnerships, introductions, and a more enjoyable life. But what if you don’t know where to begin? Not everyone has the skill of entering a room and immediately getting people onside.
If your conversation opening prowess could do with improvement, try these five prompts in ChatGPT. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through. In the opening prompt, describe the nature of an event you have planned, so it can give you the most relevant advice.
Have better conversations with these ChatGPT prompts
Let them show off
Give the other person a chance to be the bigger guy. Hint that you admire something about them; their hair, vibe or something you know about their work. Follow up with a question so they can tell you more. A little flattery followed by curiosity. They’ll feel seen and be eager to share. Get ChatGPT’s help in knowing how to do this with the following prompt.
“At an event I’m soon to attend I will likely meet [describe the nature of the other guests]. We have the following things in common: [explain what you might have in common]. The event setting will be [describe the event setting, for example networking, work social, housewarming party]. I want to improve at conversation openers. One of my tactics will be to highlight something I admire in the other person and then ask them to elaborate. Give me 10 potential ways I could do this.”
Tell a story
Stories are memorable. Your founder story, a big challenge you overcame, or simply something that happened on the way to the event. Get good at telling stories to never fret opening a conversation again. Have a few up your sleeve the next time you make an approach. Use ChatGPT to help you come up with some opening stories, perfect for the people you’re about to meet.
“At this event, I want to open some conversations with a story that will spark interest, open a good conversation and make me memorable in a good way. I have recently: [describe recent events, milestones or breakthroughs in your life]. Create three potential stories I could use to open a conversation with an attendee, who I may or may not have met before.”
Find common ground
When you have one thing in common with someone, you can sustain a good level of conversation. You can exhaust that topic until it’s time to go home. Where relationships run deep, however, is where there are more than one. Two points of connection, or even three or four, make for a connection with depth, with someone just like you. Finding out those shared interests, values and experiences involves clever use of conversation.
“My main interests are: [describe your top three interests or aspects of your identity you feel are important.] How can I open a conversation in such a way that I could find out if the other person and I have multiple interests in common?”
Pose a quiz question
If you know you share common ground, use that common ground to spice up the chat. Many people love guessing games; they like the chance to apply their brain to what they might consider their specialist subject. Asking “How many billionaires are there in the world?” to a group of business owners sparks an enjoyable debate. “What year was Inception released?” to a bunch of film enthusiasts has the same effect. For best results, find a question with a definitive answer. Use ChatGPT to get the question.
“I will start some of the conversations with a fun quiz question that has a definitive answer and will spark a lively and enjoyable conversation with a small group of attendees. One example of a suitable question is, ‘How many billionaires are in the world?’, because there is a definitive answer but the question sparks a working-out process. Given what you know about our areas of interest, can you give 5 options for quiz questions to ask at the event, along with the correct answer?”
Make an observation
Observant people are engaging. They see beyond what’s right in front of them and go deeper with their insights. They’re interesting to talk to, because they spot the things we miss. Most places you go, there are things all around you that could spark a new connection. Find a way to bring it up in an interesting way, and use ChatGPT to get some help. Describe the venue and what might be there, and ask for ideas of how to turn everything you see into a reason to talk. Go forward with your favourite and see how you fare.
“I want to have a backup list of conversation starters for this event. I’m going to tell you more about the event setting. Please come up with 5 potential conversation starters based on this. Here are more details of that: [describe your event’s venue, location of setting. Include details of what might be there].”
Start better conversations with these ChatGPT prompts
There’s no excuse not to start interesting conversations. Gone are the days when, “what do you do?” will cut it. There are far better ways to strike up a chat and get to common ground, including letting them show off, telling a story, posing a quiz question or making an observation based on something you see.
Use these ChatGPT prompts to feel confident about your next event. Show up with confidence and wow everyone you meet.
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