/01
“You say your job title and they say oh, nice.”
What you do, in one breath
Not your title and not your employer's boilerplate. The problem you work on, said so that somebody outside your team can repeat it to a colleague.
The conference hallway, rehearsed out loud
1
person runs this conversation
6 min
The shortest conversation
Ninety seconds between talks to say what you do in a way somebody will remember, and then the follow-up message that decides whether any of it mattered.
B2 · confidentC1 · advanced
What actually happens
Five things people say before they start.
One of them is usually the real reason. What sits underneath it is what actually gets scored.
/02
“They asked three things and you asked none.”
The question back
A hallway conversation is two people deciding whether this is worth ten more minutes. The one who asks the better second question is the one who gets them.
/03
“You exchanged names and nothing else happened.”
Naming the next step
Not we should stay in touch. A specific, small, next thing, send you the paper, introduce you to somebody, fifteen minutes next week, said before somebody's next session starts.
/04
“Your message could have been sent to anybody at the conference.”
The follow-up that lands
Two days later, three sentences, and one of them has to be something only the two of you would know. This is the scenario most people have never rehearsed once.
Not the situation you need?
Bring the real thing: the job description, the date on the letter, the words the school used. Everyone who runs the conference hallway will work from what you actually walked in with.
How a first conversation worksWho you will be talking to
The conference hallway, with 1 of these 1.
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.
The conference hallwayWhat it costs
One price a minute, whoever you talk to.
A harder conversation simply runs longer. The shortest way to rehearse the conference hallway is 6 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
One hallway conversation between sessions, on a clock somebody else is keeping.
- Minutes of talking in total
- 72
- What that costs here
- $32
- The same minutes with a tutor
- $300
- You do not spend
- −$268
At $50 an hour, rounded up to the 60-minute booking nobody will sell you less than.
Your first 5 minutes
What 5 free minutes are for.
01
Say the thing you work on
Out loud, in one sentence, without your job title in it. It is harder than it reads.
The terms, in full
- Free
- 5 minutes
- No card asked for
02
End with a next step
The score looks for one, because the conversations that lead nowhere are the ones that ended on pleasantries.
Paid for out of your free minutes
- What you do, in one breath
- The question back
- Naming the next step
- The follow-up that lands
Questions
What people ask before they start.
Nearby
What people open next.
The rest of Social first, then everything else at the same difficulty.
All the situationsA stranger at a party
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedMusic, an accent, no syllabus, and the hardest part is leaving the conversation without ending it badly.1 personfrom 5 minMeeting someone newB2 · 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 min
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedMusic, an accent, no syllabus, and the hardest part is leaving the conversation without ending it badly.1 personfrom 5 minMeeting someone newB2 · 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 colleagueB2 · 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 min