Be Comfortable With Small Talk

There are some really good things to remember about small talk. First of all: it is necessary. Second, many people do not like it, so is it worth getting comfortable with it. And third, it really does not matter what you talk about, it just has to remain small.

The small talk part of the conversation is really just to warm each other up. It is an opportunity to feel the persons mood out, their status, or your compatibility. You get a feel for a person and that is what small talk is mostly about. You start thinking are they all about themselves? Or, do they care about you, the listener.

Different types of small talkers

1. The conversation hog who eats up all the time chatting about him or herself.
2. The interrogator who drills others but never volunteers any information about themselves.
3. The "Let us pretend I am not even here person" who fades into the background and lets everyone else do the talking
4. And, the warm, delightful conversationalist who just does not have the confidence in himself.

The last type is often the bulk of people. And its something so important to know: That nearly everyone feels uncomfortable even if they look comfortable.
Social situations are nerve-wracking for many people so the most important thing is that you take control of the situation and be the one who looks comfortable.

Your job is to make others comfortable. Pretend its a party that you are giving, and you are the host. So your job is to find out about others and make them glad they came to your party.

Start by asking people questions about the obvious. What is obvious at that minute? How about . so how do you know our host? Or, have you taken these classes before? If you are at a networking event, you could state the obvious, so you work in Human Resources? How long have you been at your present company?

It really does not matter what you ask them. But, make sure if you lead in with a comment about the weather or something that you follow up with a question that they can answer.

Remember: WWWHW Who, What, Where, When, How, and lastly Why? (Asking WHY questions can sound like you might be challenging the person so its best to avoid if at all possible.)

Next, an easy formula to remember is FORM: Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Message. ( aka; their passion). You can ask about any of these things and people will light up because they are now talking about themselves.. their favorite topic!!!

Lastly, small talk is SMALL. Many people go off on tangents and start talking about something more in-depth than they should in a small talk environment. This is the time for BULLET POINTS.. not the whole story. For instance, if someone asks HOW you injured your leg, just give them the brief story, I hurt it in kickboxing; rather than a long winded story that will bore everyone to tears!

Conversation starters are really easy if you focus on getting to know the other person. If you focus on engaging them and making THEM feel comfortable, rather than worry about how you are appearing, you are bound to make a new contact, a new friend, and hopefully, have a good time in the process!

Office Communication: Tips to Stay Connected

Want your office to run as smoothly as possible? The first step involves improving communication.

There’s nothing more stressful than a lack of communication in an office setting. When co-workers don’t work together as a team, problems and misunderstandings – big and small – can arise, causing unnecessary dilemmas and even rifts.

The following tips will help managers improve office communication:

* Hold regular meetings. Whether they’re held weekly or daily, meetings are a great way to find out what’s going on around the office and learn about what assignments or events are to come. This also is a good time to talk about what goals need to be set for the office.

* Utilize technology. Though e-mailing, interoffice calling and paging are effective ways of keeping in touch with co-workers, new technology is taking communication to a new level.

One such technology is the Immediate Response Information System, also called IRIS. Developed by TechRadium Inc., IRIS is an innovative alert system that sends routine, priority and emergency messages to building occupants, building managers and, if necessary, emergency responders. These voice and text alerts are sent through a variety of frequently used electronic devices: home and cell phones, e-mail accounts, pagers, PDAs and fax machines. IRIS is an affordable communication system because it requires no hardware, software or system installation for setup.

* Use your listening skills. Pay attention so that you do not miss out on important information that you may need to know or discuss with a co-worker or client in the future.

* Spread the word. When you have sensitive or important matters to discuss, don’t hide behind e-mails because the message can be misconstrued. To make sure you get your point across, meet with each party that’s involved or contact them by phone.

                                         

Keeping in Touch with People through Prepaid Call Cards

In today's fast-paced world of technology and communications, prepaid telephone calls are a trendy method of contacting friends and family from almost everywhere, and it also allows the caller to control spending and not get tied up into paying standard fees or regular rates with standard telephone service providers.

Most telecom companies now provide prepaid call card service, which they usually sell advance. When a customer purchases a prepaid phone call card, one is paying for long distance connection time in advance. When a customer makes calls using the phone card, the card’s value is deducted based on connection fees, duration of connection or calls made, surcharges, and any or whatever maintenance surcharges are associated with the call card.

Prepaid phone calls are generally implemented in a telephone operators network using a method called intelligent network functionality. The competitive rates these providers offer are usually made possible by spending lesser cost routing and lower overheads than the established telephone operators.

Friends or family worldwide now find it convenient to establish connections and maintain friendships through the advent of prepaid phone call cards. These cards, commonly known as phone cards in the US and the United Kingdom, are readily available almost from every newsstand, convenience store or drugstore. They are now admittedly the cheapest means of making long-distance and international calls, and what is more important is that they offer complete anonymity to the one using it.

Prepaid phone call cards sold by retailers are considered active once they are purchased. A call card generally has a web site that offers prepaid PINs for calling, which denotes that there is no physical phone card. There are also call cards that have toll-free operators, that offer added services to customers or patrons who hold accounts with them and have already paid money in advance for the service.

This service is typically accessed by the user when he/she dials a toll-free number from any telephone, much like a 1-800 number. The customer then authenticates himself with the operator by entering a PIN number. Most of the time, these operators have toll free numbers all over the world, ensuring that a customer can access the service even when he is in another country.

Prepaid call cards are also offered by the majority of mobile phone providers around the world. Typically all the standard mobile call card services are readily available to prepaid users, however, a user would need to top up, or load their balance in advance before they can be used. Loading up on an overseas call card could be done via a variety of mechanisms- either thru vouchers, swipe cards, debit and credit cards.

Whenever one needs to avail of a prepaid call card service, the customer should keep these in mind, to enable him or her to find the best-prepaid call service which would truly suit his requirements for overseas or local calls. A person should know if he/she would be making calls mostly overseas?; Whether he/she would be calling to the US from overseas frequently?; Would the customer need internet access to come along with the prepaid call card service?, or Whether he/she is calling mostly just within the US and Canada. For travellers to the US and Canada, it is advisable to get the services of a call card, since most prepaid call cards in the US offer better and cheaper rates, and there are a wide array of services available in all US cities or towns.