Top 10 Icebreakers for Holiday Mingling!
By Debra Fine
Do you dread holiday parties? Does attending or hosting another open house make you want to stay inside your office and lock the door?
The following timely tips can be clicked and saved in a jacket pocket, cocktail purse or written in the palm of your hand. This holiday season every new face is a new opportunity for conversational success. Don’t find yourself alone in the corner, hanging out by the bar, or jumping ship. Use the tips provided here to help guarantee you will be a small talk survivor!
Top 10 Icebreakers:
- "What is your connection to the host/hostess or event?"
- "What do you enjoy the most about this time/season of the year?"
- "Describe how this season of the year impacts your work?"
- "Bring me up to date about your life/work/family since the last time we got together..."
- “Tell me about your plans for the holidays...”
- “Describe you favorite holiday tradition...”
- “What challenges do you encounter at this time of year?”
- “Tell me about a special gift you have given or received?”
- “What is your favorite holiday? Why?”
- “What have you got going on during the coming year?”
Conversation Killers to Avoid:
- "Are you married?" or "Do you have any kids?" Where are you going with either one of these if the response is "No"?
- "How's your job at Boeing, United Airlines, Martha Stewart Enterprises (fill in the blank)?" Unless you know a person well, assume nothing! Don't put them on the spot like that. Instead ask: "What's been going on with work?"
- "How's your wife?" (She left, took all the money, the kids and the got the house!)
- "Merry Christmas!" "What are your Christmas plans?" Not all of us celebrate Christmas.
- At all costs avoid “Is that real?” “Are those real?”
Turn every conversation into an opportunity for success!
Return to Free Articles List
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.
All the same incredible content, in an all new format. Get
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
A Fine Family
More»