Conversing with people who don't ask you questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The older I get, the more these one-sided conversationalists annoy me. I'd rather be by myself than waste time being their sounding board. One the other hand, I feel like I have trouble knowing when to talk in a conversation - the back and forth -when do I respond with a few sentences to what someone said, or do I keep listening? Does anyone have recommendations on 'how to be a good conversationalist'?

Really listen
Smile and laugh when they’re trying to be funny
Ask questions and listen some more
Try to remember names and important stuff they told you about their kids etc

To your question, sharing a few relevant sentences about yourself would almost always be good, as a conversation is like a tennis game.

I do think it can be hard to know how long to talk. I get nervous about going on too long, but I think the end result is that I probably don't talk enough and people know very little about me.