7 Free Things You Can Do To Spark Conversation

“What’s been happening?”. 

Some days you feel like you have nothing new to say about yourself. Seven days in a week, and you have done nothing worth mentioning.

In a slump? Try some of these activities. Next time someone asks you “what’s new?”, you can mention your recent activity and that will lead to an interesting conversation. (The best bit - they are all free!):

Watch a foreign movie: Go to a channel you don’t normally watch, or search in a pay TV category that you haven’t looked at before, and find a bizarre film that you have never heard of. If this movie is wonderful, you’ll have something to recommend to your friends. If it is awful, you can have a laugh about it with your friends.

Listen to a podcast: One of our favorite regular conversation starters to use is “What have you learnt this week?”, and listening to podcasts is a way for you to always have an interesting answer for this. They are also a great way to pass time when driving or doing chores around the house. Listen to a variety of podcasts and you’ll always have interesting things to talk about. It might be a curious mystery, a fascinating break-through in science or an ethical issue teased out. Ask your friends for podcast recommendations.

Learn a new skill: Learning a new skill is a great way to make some fresh conversation. And it’s easy to learn new things. From the comfort of home you can take a Youtube course on origami, magic tricks or whatever takes your fancy. An even better option is to invite your Facebook friends to teach you something they know, it’s a great excuse for a catch-up with them. Alternatively, you can spend a little money on a short course.

Have an alternate Olympics: Get some friends around for some fun games at your local park and have your own Olympics. You’ll be talking about it with them and others for years. You can play old classics like egg & spoon races (perhaps around the playground obstacle course), pea-throwing competitions, three-legged races, goal-kicking competitions. Revisit games from your childhood. Or make up your games. The internet is bound to give you lots of ideas.

Make a "best of" list: What are your 50 favorite movies? What are your top 100 songs? What are the 10 best countries you have visited? Who are the 15 best bands? What are your 10 favorite foods? What are the 5 most important moments in history? Compile a list and publish it on Facebook. Don’t do it all in one hit, maybe just one a day. People will love weighing in with their own opinion and will talk about it with you when they see you in person. People love to read a list ranking things, especially when they disagree with it!

Give yourself a challenge: Go without TV for a month. Be sugar free for a week. Write 20 songs in 20 days. Do a movie marathon. Your difficulties & successes will be sure to get lots of interest. 

Look online for local festivals to attend: Experience some culture. It doesn’t matter if the event is not your regular interest, the point is to try something different. This strange experience will be something you will want to discuss with your friends. Even better, take some friends with you to discuss all the unusual things you discover.

Unusual experiences helps you have new conversations.

Let’s talk.