Professional Documents
Culture Documents
List of Topics To Talk About: Conversation Tips
List of Topics To Talk About: Conversation Tips
down, and you are both just sitting there as you try to think of a topic to talk about.
Definitely awkward. But hopefully these topics to talk about will help you avoid that
situation in the future. You can commit some of them to memory and you’ll always have
something to talk about.
Under each topic are a few sample questions to get you started and to help you think of
other questions. But remember that these are just the beginning of the question you can
ask. There are many more possible questions for each topic. Come up with your own
questions based on their answers or from your own creativity.
First though, here are some general tips for a good conversation.
Conversation tips
Make sure to ask lots of follow up questions related to their answers. But remember it’s
a conversation, not an interrogation. So when they ask you a question, make sure to
give a long detailed answer and answer any follow up questions they ask you. Every
conversation should be a give and take of talking and listening.
Two topics that you WON’T find on this list are religion and politics. And that is because
you probably shouldn’t discuss these topics unless you want to get into an argument
with the person or make the person uncomfortable. Seriously, just don’t.
And of course there are some people who might just not feel like talking. Remember, if
someone gives you a lot of one word answers, doesn’t make eye contact, and doesn’t
ask you any questions; that probably means they aren’t in the mood for a conversation.
In that case it’s better to just end the conversation and leave them to their own thoughts.
Okay, enough with the introduction and tips. Here we go, topics to talk about. Enjoy!
Once you stumble upon something interesting or something they are interested in, keep
talking about that for a while. Branch off from your initial topic and ask follow up
questions about whatever they seem interested in. Usually people like talking about
themselves, so it’s usually good to focus on them and be a good listener with occasional
prompting follow up questions.
1. Current situation
Usually the best way to start a conversation is to talk about your current situation. The
questions you’ll ask vary greatly on where you are and what you are doing.
So for example, if you are waiting for something you might ask how long they’ve been
waiting. Or if you are at a show or an event you might ask if they’ve seen the performer
or speaker before. If you are traveling somewhere you might ask where the other
person is headed. If you are at place that is serving food, talk about the food. If there is
music playing, talk about the music.
2. Job / Work
3. Clothes
This one works best if you talk about what they are wearing. Maybe try complementing
a piece of clothing they are wearing that you like and ask where they got it.
4. News
What do you think about (current news story)?
5. Sports
Do you like (sport you like)?
What do you think about (popular player / team that is doing well)?
Avoid asking exactly where they live. You don’t need to know their address. Just keep it
to general areas.
Just a heads up, this can sometimes make the person you are talking to think you want
to make plans with / date them.
8. Free time
10. Movies
11. Food
What’s your favorite food / ethnic food / restaurant / thing to cook / seasonal food?
12. Books
13. TV
What are some shows that ended that you were really into?
14. Travel
15. Hobbies
16. Children
This topic usually only works if you both have children. So you have something in
common to talk about. If one of you doesn’t have children, you might want to skip this
topic.
17. Pets
18. Restaurants
What’s your go to restaurant when you want to eat out but can’t decide where to go?
What’s your favorite (Mexican/ Thai / Vietnamese / etc.) restaurant around here?
What are some current trends you just can’t get behind?
What current trend is going to look the silliest in 10 years?
What actor or actress will you watch no matter how bad the ratings for the movie are?
Which actor or actress used to be really popular but has fallen off the radar?
What actors or actresses only play one character in every movie they are in?
That being said, if the person you are talking to seems a bit clueless about tech, you
might want to switch to another topic.
23. Apps
24. Internet
25. Games
What game on your phone or tablet are you really into now?
What do you think would be the most useful thing you could do with virtual reality?
What would be the most entertaining or interesting thing you could do with VR?
27. Phones
What phone do you have?
28. Privacy
30. Podcasts
This only works if they or you are into Podcasts. But if they aren’t you can introduce
them to some cool ones. If they are you can compare and make recommendations / talk
about the ones you have in common. If you don’t know about podcasts, you should
check them out. Whatever you are into, there is probably a podcast about it.
What are some podcasts that you used to be into but you don’t listen do anymore?
What kind of podcast would you start if you were given the chance?
What social media platform do you spend the most time on?
Who sometimes annoys you but you still follow them because they occasional put out
something amazing?
32. Websites
What were some of the best and worst things about where you grew up?
34. Things they were into
What kind of hobbies did you have when you were growing up?
What cartoons or shows did you watch when you were a kid?
What fads or interests were you really into when you were younger?
35. School
Image source: The Pigeon Gazette
36. Friends
What do you usually do when you hang out with your friends?
37. Family
41. Clubs
I’m going to go with clubs you join. But if the person you are talking to is into clubbing
you can talk about clubs they like to go to.
Where there any clubs you joined but then immediately realized it wasn’t what you
expected?
42. Cars
43. Holidays
What were your favorite holidays when you were a child?
How about now, what are your favorite holidays now that you are older?
44. Coffee
45. Photography
Do you have a stand-alone camera or do you usually just use your phone?
47. Hiking
48. Aliens
Do you think we’ll find microscopic alien life in our own solar system?
Do you think that intelligent aliens have ever or will ever visit earth?
What do you think about the speed of change happening in the world today?
What do you think has been the biggest change that has happened in the last 50 years?
50. Cooking
What are some skills that you think everyone should learn?
Do you have any unusual skills or talents?
52. Shopping
When shopping for clothes / shoes, do you prefer to shop alone or with other people?
53. Habits
54. Goals
What are some things you want to achieve before you die?
Are there any social media outlets that you don’t like but have to be on them because of
friends or family?
57. Fishing
58. Languages
Do you know any other languages?
Have you ever tried a dating site or app? How did it go?
Do you think that online / app dating or more traditional ways of dating are better?
What do you think could be done to improve online dating and dating apps?
What do you think about the flood of super hero movies and TV shows?
61. Stress
62. Creativity
63. Heroes
Did you have any of your role models let you down?
64. Happiness
When are you happiest?
What do you do that makes you happy in the short term but makes you unhappy in the
long term?
Do you think people are happier on average now than they were in the past?
65. Advertising
66. Celebrities
68. Stereotypes
69. Corruption
What are some of the worst instances of corruption you’ve heard about?
70. Weather
Where do you think the best place to live is for the type of weather you like?
What discovery could be made that would completely change the course of humanity?
72. Driving
Do you usually listen to music, talk radio, podcasts, or silence while driving?
You can make this one about neighborhood parks or national parks, whatever works
best for your situation.
74. Space
Given the chance, would you go to colonize Mars if you knew you would never be
coming back to Earth?
If you could have a faster than light space ship and could go anywhere in space, where
would you go?
75. Animals
76. Aging
77. Crafts
This topic might go over better if the person you are talking to looks like they live an
active lifestyle.
79. Drinking
These questions are about alcoholic drinks, but if the person you are talking about
doesn’t drink I guess you could still talk about non-alcoholic drinks.
Do you usually go out or have friends over when you have a few drinks?
80. Googling
How bad would it be if you Google search results were made public?
81. Camping
83. Fashion
84. Luck
Do you think some people are born lucky or do you think people make their own luck?
85. Sleep
How much sleep do you need to function? Do you usually get more or less than that?
86. Dancing
If you could master any form of dancing, what type of dancing would you master?
87. Singing
Do you think people are born good singers or can someone learn to be a good singer?
What did you try to fix but it ended up just making it worse?
90. Art
What kind of art do you like?
91. Cards
Do you like playing cards? What kind of games do you know how to play?
92. Brands
Do you have any brands that you are really loyal to?
What brands are not worth the extra money they charge? What brands are worth the
extra money?
93. Nature
94. Fruit
Have you ever had a garden? Would you like to have a garden?
96. Swimming
97. Facts
Are there any facts you learned that caused you to change how you lived your life?
What are some things that are bandied about as facts but aren’t true?
What kind of things get on your nerves more than they should?
What does your friend / coworker / roommate that bugs you to no end?
99. Musical instruments
If you could play any musical instrument like a master without any effort, what
instrument would you choose?
100. Fame
101. History
How long do you think you would have survived in prehistoric times?
What’s the most important lesson people can learn from history?
What historical figure was not as great as people think they are?
Additional resources