Small talk may be the most maligned category of conversation. For many, it's a time-waster with no redeeming qualities other than mindless chatter. Yet, when properly understood and applied, small ...

You walk into the conference networking event, feeling alone, aware of the steady chatter throughout the room. You look to find someone you might know, you sense your breath growing faster and you ...

A quick back and forth with the cashier at the grocery store. A friendly hello to someone on the elevator. A laugh with a taxi driver. These are all examples of "small talk." Some of us live for small ...

Think about what it's like to be at a birthday dinner where you have to interact with your friend's neighbors for the first time, or what it's like to be waiting for a Zoom to begin with coworkers you ...

Sure, questions like What do you do? and Where do you live? are almost necessary to get some conversational momentum. But how many of us are willing to go deeper? How many of us can say we are adept ...

For some people, having to make small talk is a uniquely horrifying mode of torment. If this is true for you, it’s likely that you can recall in grim detail your last attempts to find a way to make ...

What goes through your mind when you’re invited to a party or networking event where you don’t know anyone, or when just you and a colleague both get to the Monday morning meeting five minutes early?

How good are you at making small talk? When you’re in the middle of a chance encounter with someone, does every possible thing to say go flying out of your head? Or do you believe that small talk is ...