Boost your Business & your English: Small talk on films, TV series and more

- If you're a business owner or an entrepreneur,

you know how important it is to build rapport with others,

so that you can grow your business.

And today, we'll work on your small talk skills in English,

so that you can go from feeling uncomfortable

to feeling confident when networking in English.

Let's go.

Hi, I'm your English coach, Christina,

and welcome to Business English with Christina

where you become confident in English,

so you can grow your business.

Making connections through small talk is one

of the best ways that you can use English

to grow your business.

And the good news is that it's not as difficult

as you might imagine, if you've got the right techniques

and you just have some small talk secrets or tips.

And I really believe that this topic is so important

when you're learning English,

but also when you're doing business,

and that's why later on in this episode,

I'm gonna quiz you on it.

So pay close attention

to the three strategies in this lesson.

Now, do you know what's something that makes a lot

of my clients feel stressed about small talk?

And I think just a lot of people in general,

native speakers or not, it's that you don't know

what the conversation is going to be about.

You don't know where it's going,

unless it's you who starts the conversation

with a great question.

Now, a really safe, comfortable,

easy topic of small talk,

it's movies, books, podcasts, things like that.

So when you want to try to make some small talk in English,

just try one of these questions.

Have you seen any great movies lately?

Do you ever watch TV series, and do you have a favorite?

Do you ever listen to podcast while traveling

or do you ever listen to podcasts in general?

Asking questions is a great way to feel more confident

about your small talk in English.

Why? Because, well, when you ask the questions,

first of all, you know what the conversation

is going to be about

because you introduced that topic of conversation.

So that means that you can prepare a little bit

which helps you to feel more confident

just to get that conversation started,

which is often the hardest part.

And then also, questions show

that you're showing interest in your conversation partner,

which, of course, is very important in good small talk.

Now, there is nothing worse than awkward silences

in conversations, at least for a lot of Americans, I think.

So imagine that situation,

you're in a networking conversation,

your business contact answers the question that you asked

and then both of you are just kind of silent

and kind of feeling a little uncomfortable.

So here's how you can ask follow-up questions

to keep that conversation going.

So let's imagine that you started

by asking about their favorite movie.

Oh, I just saw a good movie at the theater recently.

Have you seen any good movies lately?

Well, I've been really busy lately,

but I did see a really good movie

on Netflix earlier this month.

Oh yeah, that's a good way to keep up

with movies when you're really busy.

What was the last good movie that you watched?

It was a biopic about Steve Jobs.

I think the title was just "Steve Jobs",

but it was really fascinating.

That sounds like a good one.

I'll have to watch it.

Do you watch a lot of movies about business?

Yeah, now that you mention it, I do.

What about you?

Okay, so, so far, we've got two of my strategies

for good small talk for entrepreneurs,

and keep those in mind

because the third one is coming up, and remember,

you've got a quiz on this at the end of this episode.

All right, so here's strategy number three.

It's simply to find common ground.

Common ground is basically just those things,

those points that you have in common with someone else.

So let's imagine a scenario

where you ask your business contact a question like,

"Have you seen any great TV series lately?"

And she says, "Actually, I don't have a TV.

I don't ever watch TV."

Ooh, okay.

So this could potentially be a moment of awkward silence

because you had prepared to ask,

"Do you like watching TV series?"

They would tell you the TV series.

Then you would ask some questions about it.

And now it's like, your conversation partner

has just killed all of the preparation that you did.

But that's okay, because you got this

and you can come up with another question

because the subject really,

it's not the TV series itself,

it's getting to know your conversation partner.

And that's what's really important in small talk.

It's not the topic of the conversation,

it's the activity of getting to know each other.

So that means you can get to know them

by asking some follow-up questions like,

"How interesting.

I guess that gives you a lot of time

to do a lot of other interesting things."

Yeah, that's true.

Since I've stopped watching TV,

I think I've read 60 books this year

and I actually have time to follow some

of my favorite business podcasts.

And maybe this is the place

where you find your common ground.

Oh, I love business podcasts.

Which ones do you listen to?

Okay, quiz time.

Did you get those three small talk tips for entrepreneurs?

Do you remember what they were?

Ask great, mm.

Ask great, mm.

And find, mm.

Now, I want you to be active in your English

as you're growing your business

and increasing your confidence in English.

So to get the answers to that quiz,

I'm gonna ask you to go over to my blog

and you'll find the answers down in the comment section

of the blog or at the bottom of the blog post,

somewhere down at the bottom of the screen, basically.

But I promise, they're there.

Now, remember, watching this video is a great first step,

but to see real change, you need to make it a habit

to practice your English regularly.

So here's how you can use what you learned today.

Think of one great small talk question

that you could ask someone that you meet

at a networking event

or any other professional situation,

and put that question in the comments below this video

and you'll give...

Well, you and everyone else in the community

will give each other a good list of questions

to help you make that first step

and start a small talk conversation in English.

Now, if this lesson was helpful for you,

there are three ways that you can tell me.

Give this lesson a thumbs up on YouTube

and subscribe to my channel,

so that I can continue

making business English lessons for you.

Of course, number two, go over to the blog post,

get the answers to the quiz,

be active in your learning, and see how you did.

And the third thing that you can do is

to watch this next lesson all about

how to avoid awkward silences in conversations.

All right, thanks again for improving your business,

your English, and yourself

with Business English with Christina,

and I'll see you next time.