Dr. Alison Wood Brooks

So a lot of people are very averse to topic prep, especially with people they know well.

They feel like they shouldn't need to plan topics for someone that they're very close to.

They'll just know what to talk about once they're together.

I'm guilty of that.

Look at the weather.

Let's talk about the appetizer in front of us on this table.

We tend to grab things that are right there in our environment that are easy to talk about.

But it doesn't mean it's the right thing to talk about.

It's not the most fun thing to talk about.

A little bit of forethought.

So we have research on this.

We've studied people who we ask to even spend 30 seconds, 30 seconds ahead of a conversation, brainstorming possible topics that they could talk about.

Then we let them go and have their conversation versus people who just walk in and have the conversation like you normally would have.

The people who have prepped even for 30 seconds, even if they don't end up raising those topics...

their conversation is better.

It's more enjoyable.

It's more fluent.

You're less anxious.

You know those little panicky moments when you're not sure, you know that something's getting boring and you need to switch, but you don't know where to go?

Yes.