1
person runs this conversation
5 min
The shortest conversation
Music, an accent, nobody you know, and no reason for either of you to keep talking. The hardest part is not starting it. It is leaving without ending it badly.
What actually happens
One of them is usually the real reason. What sits underneath it is what actually gets scored.
/01
“You both say your names and then look at the room.”
Two people who have just met and one of them has to say something that is not the weather. What you are doing here, what they are doing here, and one detail worth picking up.
/02
“You nodded at something and the conversation went sideways a minute later.”
There is music, they have an accent, and a word went past you. Asking for the specific piece you missed is worth more than asking for the whole sentence again, and both are worth more than nodding.
/03
“Everything you have said is true, correct and completely flat.”
A joke, a bit of yourself, a mild opinion. It is the register nobody is taught: warm and appropriate at once, neither textbook nor slang picked up from a series.
/04
“You waited for them to leave first, and they were waiting too.”
Ending a conversation with somebody you like, in a way that leaves the door open. This is the part people rehearse least and regret most.
Bring the real thing: the job description, the date on the letter, the words the school used. Everyone who runs a stranger at a party will work from what you actually walked in with.
How a first conversation worksWho you will be talking to
In whichever order helps. The first 5 minutes with a free partner cost nothing, so you can talk to two of them before you choose.
5 min freeA stranger at a partyWhat it costs
A harder conversation simply runs longer. The shortest way to rehearse a stranger at a party is 5 min.
You pay for the seconds you talk, and the minutes come off a balance you already hold. Nothing renews, and you are never sent a bill. Plans and refunds.
B2 · confident
12 min
is how long a conversation at this difficulty runs
The same room with the music louder and nobody filling your pauses.
At $50 an hour, rounded up to the 60-minute booking nobody will sell you less than.
Your first 5 minutes
01
Once, out loud, naming the word. It is a criterion, and it is the one that decides how the rest goes.
The terms, in full
02
The score notices who moved the conversation, which is usually not the person rehearsing.
Paid for out of your free minutes
Questions
Nearby
The rest of Social first, then everything else at the same difficulty.
All the situations
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedA friend of a friend, a café, and nobody obliged to keep it going. The first two minutes are the whole thing.1 personfrom 8 minSmall talk with a colleague
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedNothing to decide, five minutes, and somebody you will see every day for years. Talking about the work is the easy way out.1 personfrom 5 minThe conference hallwayB2 · confidentC1 · advancedNinety seconds between talks to say what you do in a way somebody will write down.1 personfrom 6 min