Meeting people is a fantastic way to open the door to all kinds of new and interesting experiences in your life.

Have you been feeling bored?  If so, then it is time to go out and make a new acquaintance.

You just never know where it will lead.  Of course, for this to bear any fruit, you have to be able to build rapport with ease or else you’ll be wasting your time.

Five Quick, Sure-Fire Ways to Establish Rapport

Rapport is the feeling that you like and are compatible with someone.  There is a certain trust that comes your way once you build rapport with another human being.  Establishing rapport is often the first step in developing a friendship or other more meaningful relationship.

New acquaintances are the pathways to all kinds of opportunities and adventures in your life.  You just never know where it will lead.

Here are five great ways to quickly establish rapport:

1.  Smile Genuinely

A warm and genuine smile is the easiest way to put another person at ease.  A large portion of communication is nonverbal and a smile is a key indicator that you are friendly.  Be careful though because people can detect fake smiles and they will subconsciously be on-guard if you appear to be less than sincere.

2.  Ask a Question about a Common Interest

People naturally relax when they are talking about something they know about and asking a question is the simplest way to make this happen.  Asking about a common interest makes it easier for you to listen attentively.  This relieves awkward silences and makes the other person feel a connection with you.  Smooth, two-way communication is a key factor in quickly establishing rapport with another.

3.  Make Eye Contact (but not too much)

Look your new acquaintance in the eye and hold it for a few moments, but then look away.  It is commonly thought that someone that won’t look you in the eye is not trustworthy.  You want to appear confident and authentic to your new acquaintance and looking someone in the eyes will do this for you.  Eye contact can also say that you are attracted to someone.  However, don’t overdo it.  Too much eye contact too soon can give someone the creeps.

4.  Use a Little Humor

Lightening up the mood and letting your new acquaintance know you can be funny is often a great way to establish rapport.  Men and women rank a good sense of humor very high in terms of attributes that they find attractive.  Of course, you want it to seem natural and not forced.  Also, you want to stay away from any comments that might be perceived to be in poor taste or indecent.  Make them genuinely laugh and you are almost sure to sway them over to your side.

5.  Don’t Rush Things and Don’t Go Too Slow

You need to tune into the pace of conversation and interaction that is comfortable with your new acquaintance.  You don’t want to appear to be pushing things along faster than what is comfortable.  This can feel unnatural to them and will make them back off.  However, you also don’t want to go too slow.  Some people are more social than others and will let down their guard sooner.  You’ve got to be willing to adjust to their pace or they will either get bored with you or feel you are coming on too strong.  Either way it could be a deal-killer so, be sure and match their pace.

Establish Rapport and New Opportunities Will Abound

Again, I can’t think of any better way to liven up your life and find a wealth of opportunities than meeting someone new.  If you are aware of the techniques above for building rapport quickly, your efforts will surely payoff.  It just takes a little practice and you’ll be well on your way to finding all kinds of new people that you can call friends.

How do you build rapport with others?  What turns you off and makes you walk away from a new acquaintance?  Leave a comment on this post and let me know.

Photo: Copyright PhotoXpress.com

Meeting new people and enjoying quality interactions is one of those things that can really spice up your traveling experiences.

If you have the ability to meet new people and socialize when you travel, this opens up a lot of possibilities for you, including the possibility to travel alone without ever being alone.

As a communication coach, I notice that most people have difficulties in meeting new people, especially when they’re doing relatively fast paced traveling. The good news is that all this stuff is learnable.

5 Ways You Can Meet New People in New Places

You can develop your people skills and you can become good at meeting new people. One excellent starting point is applying the following 5 ideas for meeting new people when traveling:

1. Go to Where the People Are

Seek to visit places in the cities you’re in where there are a lot of people and they are usually in a sociable mood. For example, crowded city squares with lots of pubs, coffee shops and stores. The whole idea is to put yourself in environments that make it easy for you to meet new people, because of the quantity and quality of people you will find there.

2. Go to Where Other Travelers Are

Some of the most sociable people you can find are other travelers. They are usually eager to meet new people and interact with them. So, also pick places to visit or activities to do that are preferred by travelers and where you can meet some. Consider ideas such as a guided tour at a museum, where you will probably find lots of other travelers in the guided group you will join.

3. Find Reasons to Start Interactions

As a traveler, since you are a stranger to that place, you can find plenty of reasons to approach people and start interacting with them: asking for directions, for a good place to eat, for an interesting place to visit and so on. Use all of these as pretexts to engage other people and talk to them. It’s preferable to ask for something you really want to know and you do not know, but it is not necessary. You can ask for directions even if you actually know your way.

4. Escalate the Conversation

This is the part which requires the most social skill and confidence. Let’s say you’re talking with group of people, asking them to recommend a good place to eat.

If you find that these people are sociable and eager to talk to you, do not stop there and instead, continue the conversation. Ask them things such as if they go to that place often, what they like about it, where they usually go to, or where they are from. As you get them talking and engaged, you’re also talking and opening up, and you are now in a fun conversation with new people. Guess what? You’ve just made friends.

As the conversation picks up, you can then ask the group if they want to join you to eat at that place they recommended, or maybe meet with you later and do something. Now, you’ve moved the entire interaction forward.

5. Use the People You Already Know

An alternative to meeting new people without approaching strangers by yourself starts with meeting the people you already know in various cities you travel to. You probably know some people in various parts of the world. So when you go to a new country and city, think if you know someone there. Even a person you’ve only interacted with once is a good starting point. Then, contact that person and meet with them.

Next, you can ask this person to take you with them when they go out with their friends, and you get a chance to get acquainted with that person’s social circle. This is how you can get to know new people, if just one person in that city is not a total stranger to you.

Add to Your Enjoyment by Meeting New People

In the last years, I’ve known people who travel alone very often, and they enjoy the social side of traveling the most. This is because they are very sociable and able to meet people, to make friends wherever they go.

But many of them weren’t always like that. It is by applying pieces of advice like the ones above, that they’ve sharpened their people skills and ended up making the most out of their traveling. You can do the same thing. Have fun with it!

Eduard Ezeanu provides communication coaching and helps people put their best foot forward in communication. He also writes on his blog, People Skills Decoded, and you can follow him on Twitter at @EduardSays

Photo by tiarescott

I know I do and I bet you do too.  Deep inside, we all want our opinions to matter.  The first step in engaging someone’s attention is to actually be interesting.

We often fall into the trap of believing that people should listen just because we are speaking.  This usually doesn’t work out for us. 

It isn’t that people are rude, it is just that they are busy with a lot of other things competing for their attention.  Being interesting helps to break through the noise.

Develop these traits to get the attention of those that matter

Fortunately, there are things we can do to make ourselves more interesting.  It takes a little practice, but it is worth it to get our ideas heard. 

Develop a reputation for being interesting and people will stop what they are doing and listen to you intently every time. 

Continue ignoring this advice and you’ll get the same results you get today.

Here are some things that you can do to become more interesting:

1.  Hold a unique perspective

Be the one that has a slightly different and insightful perspective on the things that matter to you.  People listen to those that help open their minds to new ways of seeing the world.

A great example of this is Jerry Seinfeld.  Seinfeld’s humor often involved every day items and experiences, but he put an odd spin on it.  This made people want to listen.  They were curious about what he would say next.

One word of warning, you can take this too far.  You don’t want people to think you are crazy.  Your perspective needs to be unique, but not wacky.  Be sure to tailor your message to the audience and situation to maximize your effectiveness.

2.  Have broad horizons

A small mind leads to boring conversation.  Educate yourself on a wide-range of topics.  Read, travel and talk to people of all backgrounds to gain interesting insights.

Develop your own opinions on a wide array of topics, but be open to learning new angles too.  A part of becoming interesting is listening and learning from other engaging people.

Will Rogers was an Okie that on the surface seemed very simple, but he had traveled around the world three times, made 71 movies and wrote more than 4,000 newspaper columns.  I bet he was interesting!

3.  Don’t just talk about yourself and your experiences

Share what you have to say, but don’t dwell too long on your views.  Turn the conversation around by asking an open-ended question to engage your partner.

People are more interested in what you have to say when you take an interest in their opinions as well.  Don’t just talk about yourself!

4.  Be curious about everything

This goes along with having broad horizons.  Remember Curious George?  He was a little monkey that explored his world to its full extent.  Sometimes this got George into a little mischief, but he also learned a lot from his adventures.

The more you know, the more you grow!  The deeper a well of knowledge and information you have to draw upon, the more interesting you will become.

5.  Try to truly understand and empathize with others

Stephen Covey tells us to “Seek first to understand”.  This is good advice.  Be sure you fully comprehend all aspects of a situation before you offer your opinion about it.

We often go off half-cocked.  We think we know the full picture and begin spewing forth our advice before we’ve listened thoroughly.  Verify that you understand clearly before you start talking.  This will keep your ideas from being dismissed.

6.  Inject a little humor

Clever humor that lightens a conversation can help to relax and engage people.  Of course, you have to know when, where and how to add humor properly.  Otherwise, it can create an awkward moment that may lose your audience.

Smiling is also a great way to non-verbally relay positive emotion to others.  It makes people feel good when you smile at them and this leads to more attentive listening.

7.  Be enthusiastic and passionate

Every topic is more interesting when the speaker is brimming with enthusiasm and passion.  We are automatically drawn into situations where we hear a lot of emotion in the voice of the communicator.

Put your whole heart into what you are saying.  Of course, your enthusiasm has to be authentic or you will be immediately dismissed.  This is why we discount a lot of sales pitches because we can tell the hype is phony.

Sincere enthusiasm and passion will engage people every time.

Be interesting and people will listen!

People like to listen and talk to us when we make the effort to be interesting.  Like so many things in life, we have to work at being an effective communicator.  Try developing these traits and you will see the results for yourself!

What do you do to make yourself interesting?

Photo by lanuiop