Improve Your Speaking Skills With the Right Balance of Questions and Statements
Asking questions is a great way to start an engaging conversation . However, ask too many questions and your conversation will start to feel more like an interrogation. To avoid this, author Ramit Sethi proposes a question, question, assert method.
This is pretty much what it sounds like: for every pair of questions you ask in the conversation, supplement them with a statement to show that you, too, are actually participating in the conversation. Sethi says:
You won’t add value to the conversation by simply asking questions. A good rule of thumb is to ask two or three questions and then make a statement.
Bad example:
“Where are you from? How long have you been here? Oh, do you like it? What brings you here?”
Good example:
“Where are you from?” “I’m from Michigan.” “Oh, I’ve been to Michigan before. I actually grew up in Phoenix, but now I live in Chicago, pretty close. ” “Yes, really? So how long did you stay there?”
Instead of acting like an investigator, you hired another person. You have established a connection very subtly.
This may sound like common sense to some, but charismatic conversation isn’t easy for all of us. If you’re nervous, this is a great rule to keep in mind. To find out more, head over to Sethi’s full post below.
7 Proven Conversation Questions (And Why They Work) | I will teach you to be rich