{"id":64112,"date":"2017-06-08T20:34:06","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T01:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=64112"},"modified":"2021-06-06T13:03:18","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T18:03:18","slug":"social-briefing-9-think-questions-ask-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/relationships\/social-skills\/social-briefing-9-think-questions-ask-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Briefing #9: How to Think of Questions to Ask People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Officer<\/p>\n

Social Briefings<\/a> are short bi-monthly dispatches that offer practical tips to improve your social skills. <\/em>Read more on their raison d\u2019etre<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you ever been on a first date, and, after having run through questions on what the other person does for a living, and how many siblings she has, been stumped as to what else to ask?<\/p>\n

Or have you been at a dinner party where you drew a blank as to what questions to pose to the other guests?<\/p>\n

In our last social briefing<\/a>, we talked about what are generally the best types of questions to ask: those which are open-ended.<\/p>\n

But how do you think of questions to ask people at all? It can be hard to come up with them when you\u2019re nervously talking to someone new, and even sometimes when you\u2019re speaking at length with an old friend.<\/p>\n

When your conversation hits a snag, here are some strategies for coming up with questions that\u2019ll get things going again:<\/p>\n

Observe.<\/strong> One of the easiest and best ways to come up with questions — especially for new acquaintances — is simply to observe people and their surroundings: look at the pictures\/diplomas hanging on their walls, check out their clothing, peruse what\u2019s on their bookshelves, etc.:<\/p>\n