What do you call talking about nothing?

Trainer-consultant of the Rosatom Corporate Academy Alexander Lipatov talks about how to establish contact, successfully have a light conversation with colleagues and partners and leave a good impression. Quite often, during coffee breaks at conferences, at the beginning of negotiations or at corporate events, we have to conduct the so-called small talk – an easy conversation with colleagues or partners. However, this seemingly simple task sometimes turns out to be a real test, raising many questions: how to approach, what to ask, how not to say too much and not put yourself or the interlocutor in an awkward position, and how, finally, to organically end the conversation? Let’s figure out how to learn how to conduct a small talk and what the benefits of this communication tool are. Small talk is a skill for conducting a light conversation. This is the ability to quickly find your bearings and find a topic for conversation when there is nothing to talk about, and in such a way as to interest your counterpart and leave a pleasant impression of the dialogue. The term small talk was first introduced by British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in 1923. He ranked the ability to carry on light conversation as one of the social skills that every person should possess. The purpose of a small talk is to establish a connection between the interlocutors or the speaker and the group.

How to successfully have a light conversation?

Make eye contact and smile

A smile and a glance will communicate good intentions and will draw the interlocutor’s attention to you before you start speaking.

Introduce yourself and find out the name of your interlocutor.

If you want to communicate with a stranger, the most natural thing would be to introduce yourself and find out the name of your counterpart. Sometimes, in order to find out the name of the interlocutor, it is enough to read the inscription on the badge, and sometimes you need to ask the appropriate question.

This technique works great for large events. Help becomes a good way to start a conversation. You can tell your colleague the way to the sectional room or ask for a pen. Remember, asking or offering help is natural and always elicits a response.

Find common topics of conversation.

If you do not have common professional topics with your interlocutor, you can always discuss the weather, traffic jams, etc. Look for common ground – acquaintances (“Oh, in your company I know N”), geography (“I’ve been to your city”), kitchen, sports, etc.

Remember that there are topics that are best avoided – religion, politics, personal life, salary, gossip and, finally, complaints! Nobody wants to listen to whining.

Follow simple rules of behavior

Hide your phone, look into your eyes (comfortable time for eye contact is up to 5 seconds), show interest in the words of your counterpart. Don’t interrupt your interlocutor. Avoid lengthy monologues – after one or two sentences, address your interlocutor with a response question.

Try to exchange contacts

Remember, people come to business events to find new useful connections. If you understand that the area of your professional interests overlaps (even if it is a direct competitor), try to exchange contacts – for this it is good to have an electronic business card (containing a QR code)

How to end a small talk?

Light conversation is a short dialogue that takes no more than 5-10 minutes. There is no need to tighten it. In order to politely end a conversation, you can refer to an urgent call or the need to help your boss (“Sorry, I promised to help a colleague with slides before the speech. It was nice to meet you! See you later”).

Don’t be shy to approach strangers and start a conversation. Remember, small conversation is a skill like driving a car, it requires constant practice!

Moscow, Kitaygorodsky proezd, 7, building 1

About the Rosatom Corporate Academy
Management of the Rosatom Academy
Achievements and awards
Purchases
Careers
Contacts

Information about the educational organization
Basics
Structure and governing bodies of an educational organization
Documents
Education
Educational standards
Available Environment
International cooperation

Media
News
Photo / Video
Podcasts
Useful materials
Digest of the Rosatom Corporate Academy
Expert opinion
Research

Hello! My name is Lampobot, I am a computer program that helps you make Word Maps. I can count perfectly, but I still don’t understand very well how your world works. Help me figure it out!

Thank you! I began to understand the world of emotions a little better.

Question: stereography – is it something neutral, positive or negative?

Neutral
Positive
Negative

Related words and expressions

meaningless conversation, useless conversations, empty conversations, stupid conversation, unnecessary conversation, stupid conversations, empty conversations, similar conversation, continue the conversation, painful conversation
meaningless conversation, meaningless argument, meaningless activity, meaningless chatter, meaningless conversation, meaningless questions, meaningless life, meaningless work
it’s time to stop
leave me alone
showdown
fill one’s head
Fed up with
fool around
rat race
sit within four walls
pound water in a mortar
family squabbles
in a raised voice
nothing more to say
pull the tongue
unpleasant topic
die of boredom
dredge up the past
put on a comedy
forgot about my existence
go to hell
fool around
other people’s problems
spoil the mood
I’m bored as hell
Say stupid things
exchange of pleasantries

Related words (by topic)

People: interlocutor, person, narrator, listener, friend
Places: Marina, Vika, Pronance, ICQ, one
Items: volume, telephone, thing, mobile phone, handset
Actions: chatter, speech, ranting, dialogue, chatter
Abstract concepts: meaning, word, phrase, banality, statement

Associations to the word “meaningless”

Associations to the word “conversation”

Sentences containing the phrase “meaningless conversation”

I glanced sideways at the prince, but continued meaningless conversation I didn’t.

Quotes from Russian classics with the phrase “meaningless conversation”

The general hum of meaningless conversations.

Associations to the word “meaningless”

blank look
pointless exercise
meaningless conversation
meaningless set of words
senseless waste of money
with a blank expression on his face
seem pointless
become meaningless
be meaningless
(full compatibility table)

Associations to the word “conversation”

phone conversation
serious conversation
similar conversations
people talking
adult conversations
parents talking
the topic of conversation
snippets of conversations
starting a conversation
the conversation is over
the conversation continued
the conversation stopped
continue the conversation
hear the conversation
start a conversation
(full compatibility table)

Meaning of the word “meaningless”

MEANINGLESS, –th–th; –flax–Lenna–slowly. 1. Devoid of meaning, content. A meaningless set of words. (Small Academic Dictionary, MAS) All meanings of the word MEANINGLESS

The meaning of the word “conversation”

CONVERSATION, -ah, м. 1. Verbal exchange of information, opinions, conversation. Business conversation. Talking on the phone. (Small Academic Dictionary, MAS) All meanings of the word CONVERSATION

Aphorisms of Russian writers with the word “meaningless”

Meaningless, unnecessary repetition of words causes the reader to feel bored and delays the development of action in the story.

Submit Comment

Additionally

How to spell the word “meaningless”
How to spell the word “conversation”
Analysis of the composition of the word “meaningless” (morphemic analysis)
Analysis of the composition of the word “conversation” (morphemic analysis)
Translation of the phrase “meaningless conversation” and example sentences (English)

Meaning of the word “meaningless”

MEANINGLESS, –th–th; –flax–Lenna–slowly. 1. Devoid of meaning, content. A meaningless set of words.

The meaning of the word “conversation”

CONVERSATION, -ah, м. 1. Verbal exchange of information, opinions, conversation. Business conversation. Talking on the phone.

Sentences containing the phrase “meaningless conversation”

I glanced sideways at the prince, but continued meaningless conversation I didn’t.
Don’t lead meaningless conversations.
The destruction of resources and the destruction of the environment is tantamount to the destruction of humanity, which makes absolutely pointless conversation about sustainable development.
(all offers)

Associations to the word “meaningless”

Associations to the word “conversation”

Associations to the word “meaningless”

blank look
meaningless set of words
seem pointless
(full compatibility table.)

Associations to the word “conversation”

phone conversation
people talking
the topic of conversation
the conversation is over
continue the conversation
(full compatibility table.)

Morphology

Analysis of the composition of the word “meaningless”
Analysis of the composition of the word “conversation”

Spelling

How to spell the word “meaningless”
How to spell the word “conversation”

Map of words and expressions of the Russian language

An online thesaurus with the ability to search for associations, synonyms, contextual connections and example sentences for words and expressions in the Russian language.

Reference information on the declension of nouns and adjectives, verb conjugation, as well as the morphemic structure of words.

The site is equipped with a powerful search system with support for Russian morphology.