Always Keep the Conversations Short

When making conversation with someone, always try to end the conversation before they do - even if you find it very interesting. If you end the conversation before they do, it leaves them wanting more....which sets you up positively in the future, as they will look forward to speaking to you again.

Ending the conversation early also gives you an opportunity to say how much you enjoyed the conversation, and how you'd like to continue it later on.... and then get their phone number or email address.

Ask Open Ended Questions

In any conversation, your goal should be to get the other person talking and try to find out what they are interested in.

Once you've found what they're interested in, then you can easily have them talking for hours.

The key to this is asking open ended questions - questions requiring more than a yes or no answer.

Practice this and you'll find your conversational skills will drastically improve.

Use Open Body Language for Great Conversations

When you use open body language, it allows others to relax when they are around you and shows that you are receptive to and would welcome their attempts at a conversation.

Some open body language characteristics can include:

-keeping your arms and legs uncrossed
-smiling
-facing towards them

Slow Down and Relax

In making good conversation, it's best to have a slower, more relaxed tone and pace to the conversation as it draws the listener in and allows them to slow down and relax.

Quite often, if you use a quick, fast pace to your conversation to start (unless this matches the personality of the person you're talking to) - you'll scare people off.

So ease into conversation by allowing people to easily match your pace before you speed things up.

Research Your Topics of Conversation

Try and be knowledgeable or at least have a general opinion on the things that you will be talking about in conversation.

This may require a little research - especially if you know a particular topic is popular among the people you will be talking with.

If you honestly don't know anything about it, ask questions about it - more often than not most people will be happy to tell you.

Have a Great Conversation - Express Yourself Clearly

One of the biggest keys to having a great conversation with anyone is to express yourself clearly.

With that in mind, here are a few quick tips:

Take your time when expressing your thoughts, ideas or feelings.

Try and have a bit of an idea of what you'll say before you meet someone.

Don't use slang or jargon that the person may not understand.

Share the Conversation

Being a good conversationalist involves allowing others to speak - not dominating the conversation. Express your thoughts and ideas, but don't dominate the conversation.

Remember People's Name

If you can remember someone's name, and use it throughout the conversation, it will be music to their ears.

Using someone's name throughout the conversation lets them know that you haven't forgotten their name, and it makes the conversation much more personal - which everyone craves.

Using someone's name throughout the conversation can also help you remember their name later on, so it is a good trick to use when meeting someone for the first time if you have a hard time remembering people's names.

Always Know Why You're Talking to Someone

Remember that you're talking to someone to convey meaningful information - so always have a point to the story, a motive behind your actions.

Do not talk just to hear your own voice. Try to have something significant to say. If you can't come up with anything, head over to www.bigbrothersadvice.com for some interesting topics of conversation. Don't bore your listeners - they won't want to talk to you again if you do.

In order to develop excellent conversation skills, you must......

... be with people. Carrying on conversations, being part of a group and being in social situations are all ways to interact with others and work on your people skills.

If you want to be a great conversationalist, you've got to practice, practice, practice.

Watch Your Grammer to Increase Your Audience's Enjoyment

If you use good grammar, it makes it a lot easier on your audience. If you use bad grammer or slang, they have to subconsciously decode what you are saying, which requires more work than if you were to just use regular language.

The more work it takes to carry on the conversation, the less they will like carrying on a conversation with you, and the more likely that they will become tired of listening to you.

For example, loud people typically enjoy a certain level of popularity just because their initial loudness and energy - but people will often get tired of them and tune them out after the initial interest wears off. Why? Because they require more work to listen to.