Workshop Blog

Today I attended a workshop at the Starr Career Development Center in VC 2-190. The workshop I decided to go to was called Small Talk: It’s a BIG Deal! Part Two. In this workshop we first discussed about what is the definition of small talk. Many kids raised their hands to answer the question and they were all partially correct. Finally the guy said that small talk is generally an informal conversation among 2 people or a group of people. After we talked about what small talk, we discussed body language. Again the guy asked us if we knew what exactly is body language and a few kids raised their hands to answer his question. Body language is any sign given off by our bodies that has meaning to another person. Body language can be positive or negative depending on what kind of signal. For example we talked about crossed arms. Crossed arms is a negative body language and usually means “I’m thinking and don’t want to be disturbed. Stay away!” During the workshop we also talked about what open arms mean to another person. Open arms is the opposite of closed arms and means “I’m receptive and available for contact.” Another thing we discussed was that people should always remember to make eye contact when making small talk because eye contact sends the signal “I’m listening – keep talking!” As time progressed we came across how to remember people’s names. There are many different ways to remember a person’s name, but everybody is different and he or she may find it easier to remember a name in a certain way than another person. A couple of ways we explored were rhyming first names with other things (Example: Curt the Flirt), combining first names with sounds that are similar to action words or objects (Example: Phillip, as in fill up my gas tank), picking the same initial as a personal interest (Example: Bob the Builder), or choosing a feature and associate it with the name (Example: Julie’s big sparking eyes make you think of Jewel Julie). When a person wants to keep a conversation going he or she should try to use techniques to talk about hot topics. Some of these techniques are free information, iceberg statements, common interests, hot buttons, instructions, or key words. When a person wants to move onto a new topic, use key words. Trying to create small talk among others in a group can be hard once and a while. When approaching a group ensure that one always observes the energy of the group. One wants to be able to match their energy or be slightly higher. If one does not observe the energy, trying to start a conversation can be disastrous and create a bad first impression. Overall I thought this workshop was going to be really dumb and boring, but instead I found it to be very helpful and informative. These topics we talked about will definitely be beneficial to me when I try to create small talk with someone whether it is at a party or a bar because who knows I can probably meet someone who is a CEO or really high up in a successful company.