Conversation Strategies to speak confidently
Introduction
Has it ever happened to you that you walk into a room and you see this person extremely attractive, extremely charismatic and very very positive energy. They’re very confident people, their communication skills are strong, their English is very very fluent. But what sets them aside is certain strategies that they use in the communication skills. They’re not just good speakers, they’re very very smart conversationalists as well. Ladies and gentlemen if you’re an introvert and if you want to be a great communicator then this lesson is for you. This lesson is all about 10 conversation strategies to speak like Prince for introverts. So, if you want to be that confident Communicator this lesson is for you. First of all let’s understand
Why learning conversation strategies is important?
We are all aware of the fact that good English is very important, but you may be a very fluent speaker but you may not be that charismatic confident person and that is because communication skills are very different from just speaking English, and therefore in this lesson today we’ll understand whilst speaking English fluently, what are some of the conversation strategies you should keep in mind to be able to become that Prince of your own personality. So, let’s get started with startegy number one.
1. Embrace Your Inner Prince
Prince or King is very famous for confidence and a very very charismatic personality. let’s look at certain steps that we can do in order to embrace that inner prince in us. The first one is
Be the one to lead the conversation
Have you ever seen that people get attracted to towards those people who start the conversation, who first say hi. So, if you walk into a room you are the first one to say hi to everybody and not wait for somebody else to say hi. If you follow this very important strategy you’ll be able to embrace that confidence and prince inside of you.
Be a simple and confident high in a group
Number two, a simple and confident high in a group can charm the people around you like the way I said before. A lot of times the only thing that you want in a group of people while standing or you know being in a group is just making sure that you are the first one to say hi, that in itself brings a huge difference than the other person, other people in the group who are just being quiet and making the environment awkward.
Start a small talk with the closest person
And another thing is start a small talk with the closest person to you. Imagine the room is full of strangers and there’s a stranger standing beside you. Be the first person to say hi to the person and be the first person to start the conversation on any given topic related to the social context within that scenario. So, what do we understand from this. In order to embrace the inner prince make sure that you are the first person to say the hi in the conversation and also take the lead of the conversation using Small Talk strategy and how can you do small talk by talking about social situations around you. It could be about weather, it could be about complimenting clothes, it could be about talking about the person who has hosted the party etc. let’s look at the next one and that is
Avoid boring classy opening lines
What do you mean by that? Boring classy opening lines a lot of times when people start the conversation they just have very simple things to say, how are you, how etc etc. But you can start the conversation with a very interesting statement as a matter of fact as we said before it can be a compliment, it can be a very intriguing question, for example asking somebody have you come to this party for the first time, it could be complimenting the music, I really like the music, what genre is it. Asking the person such questions would really make you break what the boring statements and opening lines that people are usually used to.
2. Reduce Anxiety and Tell Yourself that you're good.
It’s important that you tell yourself that you’re good. There are certain things that I’ve written here that will help us to make sure that we feel confident in all such situations. Number one is
What’s the worst that can happen if people don’t like me. It’s a very important question. Whenever you you are in a social setting, ask this question to you. If you say hi to somebody what’s the worst that can happen, they may not continue the conversation but they will still say hi. People will not be even that rude. Number two is
The labels don’t define me. I’m an interesting worthy person with a lot to contribute. Your color, your background, your sexuality, your education nothing thing defines you. What defines you is the fact that you think of yourself as an interesting person, who is worthy and a person who has a lot to contribute to society in a positive way. If you say these, if you affirm these sentences you’ll intrinsically feel very very motivated and you’ll radiate a lot of confidence out of you.
And finally tell yourself just because something happened in the past doesn’t mean it will happen again, very important sentence. Lot of times people carry traumas of their past or the bad experiences that they’ve gone through. It’s important that you told yourself that because of those bad experiences I’m not going to continue the cycle of bad events and impact my personality. I’m going to make sure that I welcome every new experience with a lot of positivity and not let my past experiences define my personality.
3. Deepen The Conversation
Lot of times conversations are often platonic, which basically mean they start with Hello, Hi and they end with Hello, Hi. But it’s important that you deepen it. How can you do that, let’s look at it. Ask open-ended questions that spark richer discussions. first of all let’s understand from here, questions that let the person speak more than just a yes or a no. For example, do you like coffee is a “yes or a no” question. But what kind of coffee do you like, a bru, a cappuccino, a nescafe or a levista. All of these different types of questions are basically letting the person speak beyond yes and no. So ask open-ended questions such as, what do you do? For example, you’re a linguist or an entrepreneur followed by a question, how did you enter the profession. So, in this particular question, the person would have to speak a little more and strike the conversation with you and therefore the conversation is becoming deeper. Another example is where are you from? you’ve asked this simple question followed by how is it different from the city that you today live in. Such types of questions deepen the conversation and make it richer. You get to know the person and the conversation becomes very interesting. So, tip strategy three is deepen the conversation whenever you talk to people.
4. Talk Like A Person Not An Expert
Can I share a very interesting story with you. I used to have an uncle and whenever he used to come to our house, he would show that he’s an expert in at everything, be it Arts, be it music, be it mathematics everything, used to show as though he was the expert at it and to be honest I never liked him, because I could never connect with him, because I was a simple boy who just have limited information about things. Therefore it’s a live example and we can understand the fact that avoid fancy words and a lot of technical jargons or use them in a limited pattern which basically means using too much of language that belong to a particular industry that people may not be able to relate with is what is meant by technical jargons.
Use the language that people are able to relate to and are able to understand, that will reflect on your own speaking and communication skills. Always make people feel comfortable around you, it is a super duper interesting tip. Make sure that your communication skills are resonating with the person that you’re speaking and most importantly always have an agenda at the back of your head that no matter what you do, your agenda is to make this person feel comfortable around you and this was one of the most important lessons that my mentor taught me and that is no matter what you do and wherever you go, make sure people feel comfortable around you and therefore you’ll be be able to embrace that confidence in you and people would feel absolutely loved around you and they’d always want to be with you.
5. Be A Genuine Listener
It about them, not you. If you show interest in people, people would always want to be with you, because they would feel that there’s somebody who’s always there to listen to them. So, take the attention of yourself, let people talk about themselves and be a genuine listener. I’ve seen a lot of times people do listen and they attempt at being a good listener, but they are just hearing the conversation they’re not listening it. So the most important thing is, being a genuine listener in the conversation, people are flattered when you find them appealing and they naturally reciprocate. People love it when you show interest in listening to them and therefore they reciprocate by being a good listener and listening to you, because it is a completely psychological game. If you portray a character, a certain character, a certain manner, people reciprocate it to you by exactly being that type. So, if you’re sweet, people are sweet, if you’re polite, people are polite, if you’re rude, people are in fact rude, and finally ask them about their jobs, their passion, their achievements etc, making sure that the conversation is about them. In return they’re going to be asking all of these information about you as well whilst they speak when you are a genuine listener.
6. Raise Famous Moments From The Past
Raise Famous Moments from the past in any conversation. If you talk about facts all the time it doesn’t work, but if you talk about past experiences that possibly both the Listener and the speaker are aware of or have a little bit of context of from the past, the conversation becomes more meaningful. Bring an experience or news or event from the past that people find easier to connect with. Any conversation becomes interesting when you’re able to connect it with the past event.
For example something happened in this years elections and it is going on. But you talk about an event of 2011 elections. Perhaps, if two people are aware of the of the elections, that in fact happened in 2011, I think that’s so they always have comparisons to make and a good conversation begins and therefore this is an interesting conversation strategy. Whenever you converse with people try to give real life examples that that person that you’re talking to may as well be able to relate with. Next for example if you’re speaking to someone in your age group it’s important that we keep the age group in mind, bring up an old television show that you used to admire as a child. This strategy is one of the best ones, basically an example of what we’ve spoken about bringing in real life examples of the past events.
7.Project Confidence
Make sure that you let the other person feel comfortable around you, but at the same time you’re in the center of your body and you portray confidence in your personality. Confidence means just being comfortable in your skin. Watch videos of people that you find inspiring, behave or act like them. I always used to watch videos of Shahrukh Kahan. I always found him very very Charming, he’s always been a gentleman for me, and I think partly whenever I behave I try to imitate his personality and therefore this is something that you can do as well. Try to find people that in fact inspire you, act like them, behave like them, we’re not asking you to become a copy paste version of them or a xerox version of them, but we are definitely seeking some sort of inspiration from their personalities to be able to contribute positively to our own.
Use the 7% 38% 55% rule:
Albert Einstein once suggested this Rule. This rule means likeability depends. Likeability means the percentage of people liking you, it depends on these three different numbers. Listen carefully, 7% for “what we say”, but 55% for “how we act” and 38% for “our body language”. can you imagine that 7% is only what you say and the rest of it is just body language and how you act. Basically acting is 55% and 38% is body language. So most of it basically is nonverbal communication. How you’re sitting, how politely you’re talking, how you’re eating, how you’re standing, how comfortably you’re treating others, all of that, therefore make sure that you use the 7% 38% 55% rule.
8. Smile With Your Eyes
When you smile, embrace the eyebrows and smile and smile not just with your face but with your eyes. So there’s a huge difference when it comes to smiling with your eyes. If your face feels and looks pleasant and happy, your conversation partner will feel relaxed, goes without saying to keep your face open and happy. There are certain strategies that we can use, recall your last vacation, no matter how grievous the conversation is, I mean you know how boring the conversation is or you can recall a funny joke or an episode of a funny TV show. While talking with people, conversations can become boring at times. But you’ve got to watch carefully that the speaker is watching you, can see you, so as a listener you can always smile whenever the right opportunity allows and smile not just from face but from your eyes as well.
9. Share Your Mistakes
It’s extremely human to accept that you commit mistakes as well. You make mistakes too and that’s fine. Psychological research shows, people who accept mistakes are more likeable than those who appear to be perfect. I don’t know why it is so famous about the perfect character. Nobody’s perfect. If you drop a glass in a room it’s absolutely natural. If the room was full of people, you just say my apologies everyone, you possibly pick up the glass and you help the servant or help who was there around you and the situation continues, we don’t have to feel nervous, oh my God, how did that happen, the cloud burst and you committed an error or a mistake. After all we are all just human beings, it’s absolutely all right to make mistakes here and there. What’s important is how genuinely you apologize in return.
Next it is a sign of being more approachable when people see that you commit mistakes and you’re able to accept it. People are naturally drawn to you, because they see themselves as defaults as well. So, when they find default in you they see that it’s very natural and they find it very comfortable to be around you. Let your flaws shine through, it will make people like you, because they will feel you’re normal and human just like they are. It’s very important if you’re not perfect, just accepting the fact that you’re still not there and just making sure that people know it and know the fact that you’re comfortable in your skin.
10. Dont Keep The Conversation Going
Practice makes perfect. Apply the techniques mentioned in strategy 1 to 9 and you will see positive results in your conversation skills and finally don’t keep the conversation going no matter what it is. I think by far the most important tip here is, if somebody is not interested in the conversation, get the cues and quietly walk out of it. If you continue to stick around, you may as well come across as very clingy and cheeky personality and therefore it’s important that you remain absolutely aware of where the conversation is going.
So, end the conversation politely if the person doesn’t reciprocate as we said make sure that you put a closure to the conversation and walk out of it if the person is not interested and if the person is interested you know what to do follow the Strategies mention in 1 to 9 and Shine Like a Star.
Conclusion
Mastering conversation strategies is key to speaking with confidence in any situation. Techniques such as active listening, maintaining eye contact, organizing your thoughts, and practicing regularly can greatly enhance your communication skills. By applying these strategies, individuals can overcome nervousness, express themselves more clearly, and build stronger connections with others. Confidence in speaking is not an innate talent but a skill that grows with effort and experience—making it accessible to anyone willing to learn and improve.