Especially for making girls laugh and just in general. I would say I mostly just talk about normal things when I meet a new person and I’m not that good at keeping conversations going and you get that awkward silence.
This dude’s head shifting skills
idkhowtotellyouthis: I’m going to speak somewhat broadly but feel free to ask for clarification on something more specific.
As far as keeping conversation going in general, there are a couple good rules to follow.
Firstly is to just ask good open ended questions. Asking yes/no questions will get you yes/no answers, and it can be hard to build a conversation on that. Once you start asking these questions, it gets much easier to build rapport.
A good example is to just ask someone you are conversing with ” what are you passionate about?”.
People love talking about their passions and as long as you are an eager ear, they will talk it off.
The flip side of that is you should have something that you are passionate about when it is your turn to talk, because people who are passionate about SOMETHING, no matter what it is, can make it interesting. Anything can be interesting to talk about if you have passion and the right audience.
As far as making people laugh (and girls since they are people too).
A lot of that is just having a good sense of timing, just a bit of cleverness, and a willingness to be vulnerable.
Just look at someone like Chris Farley as an example of this. That guy had astounding charisma because he was fearless and willing to do anything for a laugh and put 100% of his being into it.
TL;DR- Ask good open ended questions to keep a conversation going. Be passionate about something so that you can speak about it without sounding boring. Don’t be afraid to sound silly if you’re trying to make someone laugh.
Vivian1993: Making girls laugh is pretty easy. Just do what you do to make guys laugh. They are people. Some people will like a joke, others won’t if they don’t like the joke try another joke (preferably different material entirely).
Being funny largely comes down to how you say something. Laughing at your own jokes is usually frown upon but a little chuckle to yourself during the telling is a good way to make sure that people understand that you are telling a joke. As is a good shit-eating grin. Anything that helps keep your voice from a dry monotone is a perk as well.
You also need to be confident, and bold enough to take risks in saying something funny. A good joke has a good mix of being clever, an unexpected twist, and a certain shock value like: “did he really just say that?”
Avoid being too wordy. Talk decently slowly and with confidence, but don’t put in too much detail. You’re trying to make them laugh, not educate them. Roughly three sentences without a laugh is a little too long without a laugh, so add some funny.
Self-deprication is great, but don’t rely on it too much, even in joke form it can backfire and people will see it as narsasistic at best and at worst is can actually cause people to see you as how you joke about being. Balance jokes about yourself with jokes about others, and your environment.
Keeping a conversation going is a whole lot harder than just getting a laugh. I’m hardly as good at it as I am at making people laugh. I usually just luck my way into eventually making someone laugh enough that they want to talk to me.
But thats really it, you arent going to have solid conversations with everyone you speak to (thats not your fault nor theirs), you’ll just hit it off with certain folks. The books and such that say they can teach you how to talk with anybody and never run out of material are all bullshit, prying on our insecurities to make sales and full of self-acceptance propaganda. Some people will tell you to start out slow, ask them what they do, what they enjoy and gradually build up to more interesting topics. Which works sometimes. But as many people hate small talk as enjoy it. Sometimes the exact opposite strategy works and being bold and forward is better. Just depends on the person, how they are feeling, and your luck.