How To!: Make Small Talk Feel Big
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2024
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
Small talk has a bad reputation. It's boring, shallow, and awkward. Who really wants to talk about the weather, again? But, when done right, it can be a cornerstone of connection. In this episode, Carvell Wallace is joined by Susan McPherson, the author of The Lost Art of Connecting. Susan is going to help our listener, Bee, navigate the uncomfortable small talk that she endures everyday at school pickup. Along the way, we'll learn what questions to have in our back pocket, how to turn small talk into big talk, and even how to extract ourselves from conversations that are going on too long.
If you liked this episode, check out: How To Talk to Strangers and How To Make Humor Your Superpower
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Is your bank at home in three markets or 53? |
| 0:05.0 | With on-the-ground specialists in over 50 markets, |
| 0:09.0 | HSBC UK has been voted the leading bank for trade for the last seven years so let us help |
| 0:14.5 | you navigate international business like a local search H.S.C. International |
| 0:19.4 | Bank to find out more. H.S.B.C. UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:24.5 | Voted the UK's Best Trade Finance Bank for seven consecutive years by Euromoney UK Trade Finance |
| 0:29.1 | Survey 2023. |
| 0:30.1 | It started with a rainy day. I wanted to get the kids off the sofa and stop watching TV. |
| 0:37.0 | So I searched rainy day activities on Tik-Tock. There were loads of hacks on there, but the kids really liked making a bird feeder. |
| 0:46.0 | It's amazing what you can do with a milk carton and a handful of seeds. |
| 0:50.0 | We hung it outside the window and the birds loved it almost as much as the kids. |
| 0:54.0 | Who knew a bird box could be this entertaining? |
| 0:57.0 | It starts on Tik-Toc. |
| 1:00.0 | When I walk in a room no one can see me I mean my license says I'm five foot but we'll just leave it at that |
| 1:07.4 | So and I just because I'm so tiny I feel very insecure but what I have learned over the years is everyone is insecure. |
| 1:17.0 | And if we go with that attitude and you walk up, chances are people are going to be relieved because they're not going to be alone and as |
| 1:26.5 | long as you don't talk about the weather which will get you nowhere you can actually have some |
| 1:32.3 | you know interesting meaningful conversations with |
| 1:34.8 | people. Welcome to how-to I'm Carvel Wallace. When's the last time you had to make small talk? I mean if you're anything like me |
| 1:45.3 | then you probably are cringing at the memory right now. I mean I don't know what makes |
| 1:49.5 | it so hard for me to do this but I truly hate small talk. It's like I either don't want to talk to the person at all or else I only want to talk about immediately heavy topics like death, heartbreak, childhood trauma. |
| 2:03.0 | But as it turns out, small talk is actually kind of an important part of connecting with other people. |
... |
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