Some blog posts take several hours to write. Some don’t take very long – once I get an idea. This one, however, is a post that’s been in development for many years. An Awana Ministry Conference workshop I do is called “Connecting with Parents.” One of the things we talk about is conversation starters.
Most leaders would like to connect with the parents of their clubbers, but many leaders are shy and aren’t sure what to say. Others are more outgoing, but are concerned that they might say something that would be intrusive. For instance, many leaders hesitate to ask about families because there are so many different family situations and they don’t want to ask the wrong question.
One activity during the workshop is to list good questions to initiate a conversation.
Here are 10 conversation starters that my workshop attendees almost always list.
1. The weather. People don’t talk about weather to inform other people that it’s hot or cold, but rather because it’s a safe topic. Most weather questions (unless there’s been an unusual storm) are rather rhetorical. Yes, we know it’s windy outside. Yes, we know it’s hot. Yes, we know there’s a lot of snow on the ground. But weather conversation is safe and if you’re looking for a quick topic – the weather is right as rain!
2. What do you do for a living? Several attendees have suggested that this is a good way to approach this question. Many people have lost jobs the past several years as the economy has been on a roller coaster and “Where do you work?” could be an unwelcomed subject to someone who has recently been unemployed.
3. Did you hear about the new mall, park, library, etc.? Town news is good. You live in the same town or at least in a nearby town so talking about local news (not politics) is usually a good conversation starter.
4. What’s your favorite restaurant? This also can get people talking and get a conversation off the ground (and you might find out about a restaurant you didn’t know about before.)
5. Do you like sports? What’s your favorite team? (Don’t let it get too heated!)
6. Do you have any hobbies?
7. What’s the favorite place you’ve ever visited?
8. Did you grow up here? (This is my personal favorite.) If the person says “yes,” you can connect with schools you attended, etc. If the person says “no,” you can follow up with a question about where he did grow up. This question seldom fails to start a conversation.
9. How did you hear about our church’s Awana program?
10. And best of all, “Thanks so much for allowing your kids to come to Awana at our church. I consider it a privilege to be their leader.”
