MoxieCast 029: How to Start a Conversation with Absolutely Anyone (Without Feeling like a Nugget), with Karen Baker

MoxieCast Episode 29

You walk into a social event where you don’t know anyone. Everyone’s mingling – everyone but you.

You’re at the buffet, scoffing vol-au-vents, holding your plastic glass of pee-warm chardonnay. You glance around, wiping crumbs from your lapels. Nope. Still no one you recognise. You look at your watch, wondering how long to subject yourself to this low-grade humiliation. The temptation to pull out your phone is intense. It’d make you feel like less of a plonker.

Five more minutes, you tell yourself. So you stand awkwardly next to the potted plant, reading the fire escape instructions. Dum-de-dum-de-dum. Moment by moment, you’re emitting more desperate signals, and shockingly, no one swans over to engage you in conversation. You give a passer-by a watery smile, but no dice.

I’m outta here, you say to yourself. I’m just not good at this socialising thing. That was as fun as a root canal.

If any part of my intro rings true, today’s conversation is going to be a game-changer.

Karen Baker is a professional people-person, rapport-building-wizard and master conversationalist. That’s my description of her. She goes, more simply, by ‘Coach.’

In her previous career, Karen was a successful fundraiser and a masterful connector. She was – and IS – the kind of person who strikes up conversations in supermarket queues (and at those buffets I mentioned) without coming across as cheesy, insincere or stalkerish.

That, friends, is an art.

I approached Karen with one question: How can we talk to absolutely anyone, anywhere?

Her answer is this episode.

She’s going to teach us…

  • how to find an “in” when you want to connect with someone
  • how curiosity and paying attention are the only tools you need – look for the “foamy moustache” in the room
  • how power can befuddle the ways in which we connect
  • how to create a service mentality
  • how to belong in every room you’re in

If you’ve ever wanted to feel less awkward in conversations, and be one of those smooth operators who starts conversations with ease, get your note pad and press play. We’ve got you covered.

Join us.

 

Links and Resources:

Karen Baker on Instagram

Review MoxieCast on iTunes

 

Quotes by Karen Baker:

 

“Conversation is not about give and take. Conversation is mostly about give.”

“Your ultimate goal is to have a conversation that they’ll never forget.”