You wouldnt dream of going to a party naked. And I hope you wouldnt
dream of letting your conversation be exposed naked and defenseless
against the two inevitable assaults Where are you from? and What do you
do?
When asked these questions, most people, like clunking a frzen steak on
a china platter, drop a brick of frozen geography or baffling job title on the
askers conversational platter. Then they slap on the muzzle.
Youre at a convention. Everyone you meet will, of course, ask And
where are you from? When you give them the short-form naked-city answer
Oh, Im from Muscatine, Iowa (or Mill nocket, Maine; Winnemucca,
Nevada; or anywhere they havent heard of ), what can you expect except a
blank stare? Even if youre a relatively big city slicker from Denver,
Colorado; Detroit, Michgan; or San Diego, California, youll receive a
panicked look from all but American history professors. Theyre rapidly
racking their brains thinking What do I say next? Even the names of
worlclass burgs like New York, Chicago, Washington, and Los Angles
inspire less-than-riveting responses. When I tell people Im from New York
City, what are they expected to say? Duh, seen any good muggings lately?
Do humanity and yourself a favor. Never, ever, give just a onsentence
response to the question, Where are you from? Give the asker some fuel for
his tank, some fodder for his trough. Give the hugry communicator
something to conversationally nibble on. All it takes is an extra sentence or
two about your citysome interesting fact, some witty observationto hook the
asker into the conversation.
Several months ago, a trade association invited me to be its keynote
speaker on networking and teaching people to be better conversationalists.
Just before my speech, I was introduced to Mrs. Devlin, who was the head
of the association.
How do you do? she asked. How do you do? I replied. Then Mrs.
Devlin smiled, anxiously 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. Leils thought patern: Gulp, Columbus, Ohio. Ive
never been there, hmm. Criiny, 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-
ooja
(Ooja)
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