The Fine Art of Small Talk - Softcover

Fine, Debra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0971132208 ISBN 13: 9780971132207

Publisher: Small Talk Pub, 2002

Synopsis

Do you spend an abnormal amount of time hiding out in the bathroom or hanging out at the buffet table at social gatherings? Does the thought of striking up a conversation with a stranger make your stomach do flip-flops? Do you sit nervously through job interviews waiting for the other person to speak? Are you a "Nervous Ned" (or "Nervous Nellie") when it comes to networking? Then it's time you mastered The FINE Art of Small Talk.

With practical advice and conversation "cheat sheets," The FINE Art of Small Talk will help you learn to feel more comfortable in any type of social situation, from lunch with the boss to an association event to a cocktail party where you don't know a soul.

The Fine Art of Small Talk teaches you to:

*Start a conversation even when you think you have nothing to say
*Avoid foot-in-mouth disease
*Stable your shaky knees and dry your sweaty palms
*Prevent pregnant pauses and awkward silences
*Adopt listening skills that will make you a better conversationalist
*Approach social functions with confidence
*Feel more at ease at parties, meetings, job interviews, and trade shows
*Turn every conversation into an opportunity for success

About this title

About the Author:

Debra Fine, is a nationally recognized speaker, author and trainer, who as a former engineer lurked in corners when she wasn’t avoiding social functions altogether. She developed her program "The Fine Art of SmallTalk" to teach conversational skills and techniques to both the technically oriented professional and the spouse who is dragged along to conferences, conventions and banquets.

From Publishers Weekly:

Would-be social butterflies will get encouragement but little inspiration from this not quite scintillating self-help primer. Fine, a conversation consultant, insists that small talk is the necessary overture to deeper communication, the key to generating business leads and dates and a pathway to a richer life in which strangers are magically transformed into acquaintances. She covers such cocktail-party conundrums as how to spot "approachable" interlocutors, how to make introductions, how to butt into an intriguing conversation, resuscitate a flagging one and bail out of a boring one, and how to resist one-uppers, know-it-alls, motormouths and other abusers of talk. Given the ingrained human reluctance to talk to strangers, will, not technique, is the real issue. Much of the book is taken up with motivational pep-talks to get readers to initiate contact (one agonizing exercise suggests "walk through the mall and just say hello to ten people as you pass them"); in a world where everyone feels at a loss for words, Fine argues, saying virtually anything makes one a "hero." Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily make one a great conversationalist. The heart of Fine's methodology consists of long lists of icebreakers and inviting questions that she instructs readers to memorize and regurgitate as needed to jump-start and sustain conversations, and these read like rather bad small-talk-dull ("How has the internet affected your life?"), stilted ("Do you have a personal motto or creed?") and awkward ("Describe an embarrassing moment you've had."). Tongue-tied readers can benefit from her pointers and exhortation, but one hopes they will think a little harder before they speak.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Small Talk Pub
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0971132208
• ISBN 13: 9780971132207
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 114