How to Make a Good First Impression
By Debra Fine
Meeting new people and starting conversations is often challenging. It can be difficult to enter a room and view strangers everywhere you turn. Meeting all these people and engaging in conversation with them can be exhausting and overwhelming. But it does not have to be this way. Skilled conversationalists turn business and social interactions into opportunities for making a good first impression and ultimately an opportunity for success!
You can use conversational skills as a tool with which to build new connections, while avoiding awkward pauses and uncomfortable conversations. After all, making a good first impression is all about making others feel good when spending time with each of you. Great conversationalists are made, not born.
The following tips will help you make a positive impression every time:
- Don’t rush through conversations. Take your time, and be sure to remember names and use them frequently during conversations.
- Show an interest in every person you meet. By showing an interest you are creating a favorable impression of yourself. People, even shy ones, like to talk about themselves, so let them.
- Be prepared. Before entering an event, take a couple minutes and think of at least three conversation topics. Remind yourself of what you may already know about fellow attendees. Their hobbies, activities or interests. If you happen to encounter an uncomfortable silence, these conversation points will always come in handy.
- Always maintain eye contact. Eye contact is an easy way to make others feel comfortable, important, and special.
- Act confident through your body language, even if you are not. Nervous body language {twisting your hair, slouching shoulders, constant hand rubbing} can make others uncomfortable and anxious. Try to be aware of your body language when interacting with others.
- Be a careful listener. By listening intently to what others are saying, you are not only making them feel important, but you can gather cues you need to keep the conversation going and bridge to new topics.
- Don’t interrogate a conversational partner. Questions like: “Where are you from?” “Are you married?” “What do you do for a living?” can stop a conversation before it ever really starts.
- Be respectful of the opinions of others. Not everyone agrees on things, and friendly disagreements can be a gateway to a great conversation. Offer your opinion of your favorite football team, the state of public education today, or the future of the space program. Be sure to follow up with “What do you think?”, or “Tell me your opinion.”
- Have exit lines prepared. You will probably want to mingle with several people around the room.
Turn every conversation into an opportunity for success!
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Covers everything from icebreakers to exit lines. Building business, getting dates, making friends or landing jobs this book is guaranteed to improve conversational skills, mingling ability, and networking techniques.
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The Fine Art of Small Talk for Kindle!
Debra's January 2008 follow up book to her bestseller. The Fine Art of Big Talk: How to Win Clients, Deliver Great Presentations, and Solve Conflicts at Work.
Feel more at ease at parties, banquets, receptions, and networking events. Use icebreakers that work every time. Engage anyone in conversation with poise and confidence.
NSA 15 Year Member National Speaker Association
Professional Speaker, Best Selling Author, Conversation Expert, Communication Guru, Nationally Recognized Spokesperson
Conversation Skills • Small Talk Tips • Mingling Skills • Business Networking Skills and Networking Tips
Debra Fine presents programs on conversation skills, business networking skills, and mingling skills for corporations, organizations and associations both across the country and internationally. Debra is a Denver, Colorado motivational speaker and trainer. Search no further for a Denver speaker or Rocky Mountain Keynote Speaker. Her keynote speeches and interactive workshops cover conversation skills, rapport building skills and networking skills and techniques and small talk tips that include icebreakers and conversation starters, listening skills, exit lines, introductions and even remembering names.
Debra Fine is a former enineer who developed her keynote presentation and workshop The Fine Art of Small Talk: How to Start a Conversation, Keep it Going, Build Rapport and Leave a Positive Impression to teach conversation skills, business networking techniques and mingling tips for use at networking events, hospitality suites, trade shows and exhibit halls, membership meetings, conventions and conferences, and with clients, customers and patients during one on one interactions as well as banquets and other business social functions.
Copyright © 2009 Debra Fine, The Fine Art of Small Talk / All rights reserved 303-721-8266
Debra@DebraFine.com
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