Many companies are training their employees to “be friendlier.” Now, when I go to pay for my groceries or have bloodwork done ...

Imagine that you’re attending your first international conference. You’ve signed in at the welcome table, dutifully affixed your name tag to your shirt, and stepped into the ballroom designated for ...

Making small talk can feel like an awkward dance you never wanted to learn. You're thrust into this social situation, desperately searching for common ground, yet the conversation seems to drag on ...

Small talk often gets a bad rap. It can feel awkward, superficial and pointless at times — if you're doing it wrong. But it's one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal to build relationships, ...

Learning how to get better at small talk might not seem like much of a conversational superpower. Arguably everyone’s least favorite part of socializing, surface-level chitchat can be awkward, ...

Dear Boundaries: Something general and meaningless can help divert small talk such as this. “Oh, not sure” or “enjoying it, I ...

For some people, having to make small talk is a uniquely horrifying mode of torment. If this is true for you, it’s likely that you can recall in grim detail your last attempts to find a way to make ...

“I heard it’s supposed to rain this weekend.” “How about those Cubs?” “Did you hear about Ed, the escaped zebra from Tennessee?” If you groan at the thought of small talk, you’re not alone. More than ...

I’m not particularly close with my brother. We have an age gap of six years, after all. I left for college when he was still in middle school, so he was an only child for most of his ...