The Art of Conversation (eBook)

Change Your Life with Confident Communication

Judy Apps (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 2. Auflage
280 Seiten
Capstone (Verlag)
978-1-907326-05-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Discover the power of real conversations and connect deeply with others

If you've ever walked away from a conversation thinking, 'Why did I say that?' or 'I wish I'd spoken up...', you're not alone. In the newly updated second edition of The Art of Conversation, Judy Apps shows you how to turn everyday chats and business conversations into something deeper, more meaningful - and a lot less awkward.

Whether you freeze up in social settings or want to connect better with the people around you, this book is packed with brilliant, down-to-earth solutions. Discover how to start great conversations and keep them flowing, how to handle tricky moments, and how to express yourself with ease and confidence.

Inside the book:

• Spot what's really going on in a conversation and respond in a way that moves it forward
• Use voice and body language to express yourself more powerfully
• Employ technology to enhance, not replace, genuine human connection
• Build stronger, more honest relationships with important people in your life

The Art of Conversation is is about being real and connecting deeply and meaningfully with those who matter most to you. Whatever base you start from, its secrets will transform every aspect of your life.

Judy Apps is an international communication specialist, author, coach and inspirational TEDx speaker (https://shorturl.at/z1CgC). Her intuitive way of connecting with people's inner potential has enabled hundreds of people to achieve great leaps in their communication and personal confidence.

Author of five significant books on communication, The Art of Conversation touches the very heart of what it means to communicate - change your conversation and you transform your life. The Art of Communication explores how tapping into right-brain qualities - creativity, intuition and spontaneity - can enrich your relationships with depth and meaning. Other books include Voice and Speaking Skills For Dummies, Butterflies and Sweaty Palms, and Voice of Influence. Her books have been translated into 12 languages.

Textauszug

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION

DIFFERENT TIMES NOW

I began the first edition of The Art of Conversation with these words:

“Conversation! It's the most common thing in the world – so normal, so natural, so everywhere, so everyday. All over the globe, people are talking to each other.”

But now there's cause to wonder. Is it still the most common thing in the world? Are people talking to each other as they once did? In the years since this book was first published, the world has changed, and the world of communication looks radically different.

Technology has decreased the amount of direct interaction with other human beings and has fundamentally changed how we connect with each other. So much happens online, there seems much less opportunity to chat face to face. There are loads of ways to communicate, many fewer to have a conversation. Many people work part or all of the week at home. Moreover, we are beginning to understand the addictive solitary nature of social media, which, despite its promise of connection with others, has been a cause of mental problems particularly among the young.

It sometimes feels as though we're forgetting how to do conversation.

But that's plain odd. We are essentially social beings. I'm pretty sure the caveman had some way of communicating to his mate, “How does that fire-making thing work?” Given the opportunity, many of us don't think twice before we open our mouth to communicate. Surely we can all do conversation?

That masks a truth: that many of us were never very confident of our ability to converse with others. Most of us learned how to converse haphazardly through copying the habits of our parents and carers. We didn't learn the subtleties of conversation at school – at least, not formally! We never learned to appreciate the extraordinary potential of conversation, nor how to do it well. The art of conversation is perhaps the most commonly neglected skill on the globe. If you do command the art of conversation when you are young, you have a tremendous advantage in life in all sorts of ways.

The word “conversation” is a humble one. A thesaurus offers a long list of more weighty and impressive words to express the idea of talking to each other. There's discussion, exchange, dialogue, discourse, parley, colloquy … You've probably seen books on persuasion, debate, tendering or selling. Governments engage in talks; national envoys handle negotiations; the media cover international summit conferences. But the common ingredient of all these grander concepts is conversation. In the twenty-first century, we often use technology in our communication, but conversation is the basic building block of our connection with each other.

THE KEY TO MANY DOORS

So, if conversation is the basis of human contact, the ability to converse well with people has a lot going for it. Learn to hold a conversation skilfully and you have a magic ingredient for wellbeing, success and happiness in many areas of your life.

Take relationships: how you engage in conversation makes a profound difference to the quality of your connection with other human beings. It's the basis of building new relationships and making new friends. It's how you become intimate with someone. “How did Mary agree to go out with you?” I asked a friend. “I engaged her in conversation – I mean, I chatted her up!” came the reply. It's the way you improve your current relationships and understand other people better. It's the way you heal relationships that are not working, whether on a personal or a professional level.

Conversation creates good times too. An entertaining conversation is a source of fun and laughter. Did you ever joke in the playground with school friends or whisper conspiratorially in class? Do you enjoy those special moments of snatched personal conversation during a work day, or chatting with a stranger in a pub? Enthusiastic gamers report that the relaxation and enjoyment of internet games gives them the opportunity for spontaneous relationships and in-depth discussions with a variety of interesting people all over the globe. Whoever you speak to, you may find out something interesting you didn't know before. You may walk away from a conversation fascinated or amused, moved, enlightened or inspired.

At work, the ability to engage confidently in conversation is a vital, though surprisingly untapped, skill that has the potential to take you far. It eases your relationships with colleagues and bosses. It serves you well in interviews, meetings and reviews. The ability to talk easily with anyone enables you to enjoy networking and make the most of opportunities that come your way. When you are articulate and sound confident, able to hold your own in debate, you get noticed; it furthers your career and smooths your path to promotion.

Skilful conversation helps you to uncover the truth and make wise decisions about character. Then you recruit with discernment and give responsibility to the right people. The best negotiators have highly developed conversational skills. How do you influence and persuade other people of your point of view, or indeed sell them an idea or a product? You'll probably be most successful through engaging them in conversation.

In today's world there are many ways to learn, but it is often said that the best teaching is a conversation with an open channel between teacher and pupil. Lucky is the child who learned good conversation early. “The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child's home,” asserted William Temple, inspirational Archbishop of Canterbury during World War II. His statement still holds, even though he couldn't see into our future of television and smart phones. Excitement and motivation in learning are aroused by conversation. You may remember a particular schoolteacher who motivated you and was a major influence through inspirational conversation.

Back in the time of the ancient Greeks, Socrates was renowned for his much-imitated method of philosophical enquiry. In our own times, some of the most exciting scientific discoveries have been the outcome of conversations between experts of different disciplines. The discovery of DNA, successes in magnetic resonance imaging, chaos theory, radar, human genome sequencing and manned space flight have all been the result of scientists from different disciplines talking to each other, sharing information and sparking ideas off each other. Multidisciplinary conversations have become a major pursuit in universities around the world.

When we look at leaders and politicians, the ability not only to speak articulately and engage in robust dialogue but also to inspire are vital skills, yet they are given strangely low priority in the state educational system. In policing and the law, fact-finding and interrogating demand a highly skilled command of conversation. On a world scale, conversation between civilizations builds bridges and promotes peace. In the words of the Buddha, “When words are both true and kind, they can change the world.”

Conversation is the basis of the helping and healing professions, counselling, therapy, mentoring and coaching – highly skilled vocations where a good part of the skill lies in the ability to hold a simple conversation with subtlety and intuition.

Good conversational skills can transform every aspect of your world. At its best, it can lead you to experience some of the most rewarding and profound moments of your life. The simplest conversation can hold a hidden thread of the most intimate and beautiful connection … if you know the secret.

WHAT THIS BOOK IS AND ISN'T

In this book you'll discover how conversation functions and how to make it work for you. Books already exist on making friends and influencing people, networking for success, holding assertive conversations, difficult conversations, persuasion and much more. We will explore most of these areas too, but if you understand how conversation itself works and can do conversation at its simplest, you have an invaluable tool to use in every part of your life for pleasure, profit and love. You could choose to read 25 books on 25 different kinds of conversation, but the key is conversation itself. With this practical knowledge you can do it all!

So, explore its hidden parameters and build your self-confidence, starting from here and now.

The first part of the book shows you how conversation works like a dance, with both parties engaged. The connection they build between them is key, and I give you lots of hints and tips to help you connect well with people. I offer practical help if you're daunted, nervous, don't know what to say or ramble and rattle on. I show you how to manage your state, trust yourself and feel more comfortable talking with people. I introduce you to the practical basics of getting a satisfying conversation going and how to keep the other person interested. Learning how to listen dynamically is an important element, with more to it than meets the eye – or the ear!

In the second part of the book, you build the skills to be a powerful communicator. You find out how to influence the other person and direct the talk towards particular outcomes. I introduce you to a powerful method for taking conversation to different levels, so that you are able to move a conversation from everyday comments towards greater understanding and intimacy. You discover...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.9.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management
• Schlagworte: body language tips • communication barriers • communication skills • Confident Speaking • conversational techniques • Conversation tips • digital communication • effective communication • enhancing relationships • Improve Conversation • overcoming fear of speaking • picking the right words • Small Talk • Voice modulation
• ISBN-10: 1-907326-05-7 / 1907326057
• ISBN-13: 978-1-907326-05-9 / 9781907326059