How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships. Leil Lowndes

awaiting a sample of my stimulating conversational expertise. I asked her where she was from. She plunked a frozen ‘Columbus, Ohio’ and a big expectant grin on my platter. I had to quickly thaw her answer into digestible conversation. My mind thrashed into action. Leil’s thought pattern: ‘Gulp, Columbus, Ohio. I’ve never been there, hmm. Criminy, what do I know about Columbus? I know a fellow named Jeff, a successful speaker who lives there. But Columbus is too big to ask if she knows him … and besides only kids play the “Do-you-know-so-and-so” game.’ My panicked silent search continued. ‘I think it’s named after Christopher Columbus … but I’m not sure, so I better keep my mouth shut on that one.’ Four or five other possibilities raced through my mind but I rejected them all as too obvious, too adolescent, or too off-the-wall.

      I realized by now that seconds had passed, and Mrs Devlin was still standing there with a slowly dissipating smile on her face. She was waiting for me (the ‘expert’ who, within the hour, was expected to teach her trade association lessons on scintillating conversation) to spew forth words of wit or wisdom.