Keeping the conversation going

For many people, the main reason for learning English is for work or business.You may need to use English is meetings and in emails. However, one other area where English is very important is in making initial contact with people in your field of business or work.When you first meet, it is important to be able to chat so that you establish a good relationship with potential business contacts.This type of informal meeting often takes place at conferences or parties where you may meet many new people at once. Being able to network is an important skill, and one where good conversation skills are vital.

In this extract from Working English Magazine, marketing consultant Patrick Hoffman talks about successful networking.

Before you read the extract Imagine you are at a conference where there are many new potential business contacts. How would you start a conversation with one of them? Compare your ideas with Patrick’s.

Networking effectively is a really important business skill. I suppose it’s what we used to call ‘making small talk’ – having short conversations at social occasions with people you don’t know, solely for the purpose of establishing
contact. Of course, as the name suggests, ‘networking’ means speaking not only to one person, but to a number of different people. Some people can do it instinctively but others need to work at it. It’s not simply a question of
introducing yourself and saying this is what I do for a living and this is what I can do for you. As far as I’m concerned, if you present yourself as listening intently to someone it can make the world of difference. It’s not so much how you communicate yourself that’s important as how you help others communicate with you. It means asking questions – having questions in mind which you can ask really helps to stop the conversation from drying up. It also means listening to their answers, not just superficially.You need to be intent and show how interested you are.That’s what really gets the conversation going and that’s how relationship building begins, especially when you are networking with total strangers.

1. Try to define ‘networking’ in your own words.
2. Patrick mentions 3 things which makes someone a good networker. Can you identify them?

Answer

• See the definition in the glossary.
  
• A good networker asks questions, listens attentively to the answers and responds to the speaker.

5 top tips to help you keep conversations going

1. Think of questions which you can use to begin a conversation.A good way to start is with a fairly general question. For example, if you are at a conference, you might ask one of the other delegates ‘Have you been to one of these conferences before?’
   
2. Respond to an answer with a more detailed question.This can help to show you are interested in the speaker. For example, if the person says ‘I’m a teacher’, you could ask ‘Where do you teach?’
3. To broaden the conversation, you could ask questions about the speaker’s past (e.g. How long have you been teaching?) or opinions about their job (e.g.What do you enjoy about your job?).
4. Try to make sure that you ask open questions – that is, questions which allow the speaker to give lots of information.Try to avoid questions which only need a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
5. Show you are interested. As Patrick says, it is important to listen and respond. In British English, you can often hear listeners use the word ‘Really?’ to show that they are interested and to encourage the speaker to say more.

TASK        Listen out for the language of discussions

Look at your programme schedule and choose a discussion programme on a topic which interests you. Listen to the discussion and make notes on the language the presenter uses to keep the discussion or interview going. In particular, listen to the language he or she uses to show their interest in what the speaker says. If possible, ask a friend to listen with you. Make some notes about what is said while you are listening, then, when the programme has finished, compare your notes with your friend.