Good Conversation Skills to Develop

Aug 26
09:21

2010

Joshua Uebergang

Joshua Uebergang

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While becoming a good conversationalist takes work and dedication, conversation is actually a relatively easy skill to master. Humans are naturally social creatures. This article will give you a few tips to help you develop good conversation skills.

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While becoming a good conversationalist takes work and dedication,Good Conversation Skills to Develop Articles conversation is actually a relatively easy skill to master. Humans are naturally social creatures. Here are a few tips to help you develop good conversation skills.

READ THE BODY LANGUAGE OF OTHERS
A surprisingly significant portion of the act of conversation takes place with nonverbal communication where no words are spoken between two or more people. In fact, an entire conversation is theoretically possible with no words at all, as much of basic human interaction takes place with and between a series of non-verbal cues that people exude and interpret on a near-subconscious level, such as eye contact, posture, closed or opened stance, facial ticks and features, fidgeting and so forth. With a little preparation you can learn the skill of reading these cues consciously and give yourself an easy advantage in conversation.

MASTER YOUR OWN BODY LANGUAGE
Once you have learned to read others' body language in a conscious way, the next skill to master is to learn to control your own, so you know exactly what you communicating on a variety of levels in any conversation. Learn what exactly what your eye contact says to the your conversation partner, and what it means to scratch your head or your ear lobe when someone asks you a question. Once you've learned that your words say surprisingly little of what you wish to communicate in a conversation, you will be one step ahead in developing your conversation skills.

STRIKE A BALANCE
The next valuable conversation skill to develop is learning to find the proper balance between asking insightful questions and posing your insightful observations and ideas into a conversation. Remember, a good conversation is a two-way street, meaning you should neither hog all of it nor should you be a leech and force your counterpart to carry the entire weight of it. Finding the proper balance between these two extremes is a matter of practice and preparation, and often through trial and error you will develop this essential conversation skill.

GET HELP
Do not be afraid to enlist others to help you out in a conversation you feel is struggling or getting away from you, or if you are having difficulty in articulating or supporting a particular point. Though it may seem initially that doing this calls into question your competency, enlisting help actually makes it seem as though you are on top of things to your conversation partner. Fortunately for you, there are many online experts to learn from.