No two people are alike. We all have very different interests, hobbies, experiences, and so on. So how on earth do you carry on a conversation with someone who cares about completely different issues?

The good news is, it's not as much hard work as you think. In fact a little bit of a strategy which I call "targeted sweep reading" plus figuring out just a few niche-specific keywords, and you will sound very knowledgeable in a lot of different areas. I'll explain below how this works.

Don't Read the Way You Normally Do

The next time you pick up a Sunday newspaper (or browse a news website online), DON'T immediately follow your natural instinct to go directly to the sections that most interest you. If you're a sports buff, resist the urge to go straight to the Sports section. Instead, spend a few minutes each day reading a section that you know nothing about (or have little interest in). Know nothing about business? Spend some time reading the latest issues in the business world. Not a home owner? Read the tips found in the Real Estate section. Know nothing about celebrities or music? Go do a quick read about who is being discussed in Entertainment. Forcing yourself to do this might be a little painful at first, but this is just intended to be a quick, cursory exploration of what those worlds are about. Just get a sense of the current trends, important issues, values, and what people are talking about.

Targeted Sweep Reading

Want to be able to talk to someone you know, but you just aren't able to find common interests or the lingo to carry on the conversation? Do targeted sweep reading. What does this mean? The next time you visit the person, get a sense of what kinds of magazines, books, and websites the person reads. This points you in the general area of where to "sweep read". Perform the above strategy of broadly reading articles in that area, and in no time, you'll be able to determine the relevant topics.

More importantly, you'll be able to pick up the niche-specific buzz keywords. Conversation killers are when people say outsider words that don't make much sense in a domain. My friend once had a potential client who she knew was into flowers. Instead of killing a conversation by saying, uninformedly, "So... flowers are pretty, aren't they?" through Targeted Sweep Reading, she was able to toss around insider words such as perennials, annuals, ornamentals, and so on. She soon made fast friends with her -- it works!

Just as the world is becoming a smaller place, we need strategies for efficiently bridging the gaps with each other. Follow this strategy and conversation will be flowing smoothly from here on out!

John Stakis is a free-lance author and contributor. He has written on various topics, from informative speech tips http://www.informativespeechtopics.info to funny stories http://www.funny-stories.net/.