Gillian Sandstrom

And like I said earlier, people can come up with a hundred ways to start a conversation. Nobody really knows how to end them. Most of the time when people are brainstorming, it's just a list of lies. It's just, you know, I need to go to the bathroom. I need to make a phone call.

Yes, we've all seen those episodes on TV, haven't we? If you haven't heard from me, call me in seven minutes and help me get out of this. It depends on the situation.

Yes, we've all seen those episodes on TV, haven't we? If you haven't heard from me, call me in seven minutes and help me get out of this. It depends on the situation.

Yes, we've all seen those episodes on TV, haven't we? If you haven't heard from me, call me in seven minutes and help me get out of this. It depends on the situation.

Like if it's a mixer or a networking event where it's sort of intended for people to have, you know, talk to multiple partners, then there are some sort of clever things you can do like introduce the person to someone else and then move on.

Like if it's a mixer or a networking event where it's sort of intended for people to have, you know, talk to multiple partners, then there are some sort of clever things you can do like introduce the person to someone else and then move on.

Like if it's a mixer or a networking event where it's sort of intended for people to have, you know, talk to multiple partners, then there are some sort of clever things you can do like introduce the person to someone else and then move on.

But when I've taught these workshops, there's always one person, and I think it's literally one person, who says that they just thank the person for the conversation and sort of signal that it's over and it's time to move on, and maybe even explicitly say that. It's been nice talking to you, but I think it's time for us to go now.

But when I've taught these workshops, there's always one person, and I think it's literally one person, who says that they just thank the person for the conversation and sort of signal that it's over and it's time to move on, and maybe even explicitly say that. It's been nice talking to you, but I think it's time for us to go now.

But when I've taught these workshops, there's always one person, and I think it's literally one person, who says that they just thank the person for the conversation and sort of signal that it's over and it's time to move on, and maybe even explicitly say that. It's been nice talking to you, but I think it's time for us to go now.

And everyone looks at this person and kind of says, you can do that? So, you know, that tells me how uncommon it is, but, you know, why not? So I've definitely been trying to do that more often is to just, you know, thank the person, acknowledge, you know, I think that's what we want, right?

And everyone looks at this person and kind of says, you can do that? So, you know, that tells me how uncommon it is, but, you know, why not? So I've definitely been trying to do that more often is to just, you know, thank the person, acknowledge, you know, I think that's what we want, right?

And everyone looks at this person and kind of says, you can do that? So, you know, that tells me how uncommon it is, but, you know, why not? So I've definitely been trying to do that more often is to just, you know, thank the person, acknowledge, you know, I think that's what we want, right?

We don't, it's very unpleasant when you're talking to someone and instead of saying that, they just start looking around and you can see them kind of fidget. Like that's the worst, right? It would be much better if someone just said, thank you. And, you know, I'm going to move on now.

We don't, it's very unpleasant when you're talking to someone and instead of saying that, they just start looking around and you can see them kind of fidget. Like that's the worst, right? It would be much better if someone just said, thank you. And, you know, I'm going to move on now.

We don't, it's very unpleasant when you're talking to someone and instead of saying that, they just start looking around and you can see them kind of fidget. Like that's the worst, right? It would be much better if someone just said, thank you. And, you know, I'm going to move on now.

So at the How to Talk to Strangers workshops that I've run, I've heard those kind of comments from both genders, actually. So women are nervous about talking to a man because they don't want to send the wrong signals. And men are worried about talking to women because... They don't want to have their behavior interpreted in the wrong way.

So at the How to Talk to Strangers workshops that I've run, I've heard those kind of comments from both genders, actually. So women are nervous about talking to a man because they don't want to send the wrong signals. And men are worried about talking to women because... They don't want to have their behavior interpreted in the wrong way.

So at the How to Talk to Strangers workshops that I've run, I've heard those kind of comments from both genders, actually. So women are nervous about talking to a man because they don't want to send the wrong signals. And men are worried about talking to women because... They don't want to have their behavior interpreted in the wrong way.

So, yeah, I think everybody's sort of nervous about talking to each other. And it's really a shame, isn't it? Because we don't want to not talk to half of the human population. But I don't think we have to get stuck there. Like, I think there's probably things we can do in our body language to signal that, you know, by keeping some distance, maybe, you know, less intense eye contact.