Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when a companion is happily telling you
Speaker 1: about something in their life, ask them to show you photos.
Speaker 1: They will be thrilled to do so, and you will
Speaker 1: learn more about this person than you would otherwise. So
Speaker 1: back in the olden days, people used to create slide
Speaker 1: shows of their vacations. It was something of a running
Speaker 1: joke that people would be invited over to a friend's
Speaker 1: house and then be ambushed with a slide show of
Speaker 1: their recent vacation to Hawaii, featuring ten shots of the
Speaker 1: airplane wing alone. One can imagine these friends trying desperately
Speaker 1: to escape. What good news is, most people don't do
Speaker 1: slide shows like that anymore, but people do still take pictures,
Speaker 1: and thanks to smartphones, people always have their pictures with them.
Speaker 1: Most people would still like to share pictures of the
Speaker 1: things they love, so why not ask for the slide show.
Speaker 1: If your coworker tells you that her sister just had
Speaker 1: a baby, ask to see pictures, or if her neighbor
Speaker 1: got a puppy, or if she's regaling you of tales
Speaker 1: of renovating her back porch in backyard modern sorts have
Speaker 1: photos of all these things, so ask to see them. Ooh,
Speaker 1: I love roses too, do you have a picture of
Speaker 1: them in your garden? Or my neighbor growing up had
Speaker 1: a poodle too, do you have pictures? A request for
Speaker 1: the slide show does a few things. First, it shows
Speaker 1: your companion that you are truly interested in them. You
Speaker 1: are not looking for an excuse to get away. You
Speaker 1: are voluntarily extending the small talk by a minute or two.
Speaker 1: But and this is an upside for you, This small
Speaker 1: talk might actually become a lot more interesting at that point.
Speaker 1: Pictures tend to nudge a little bit of storytelling. That
Speaker 1: photo of your colleague's niece brings up that she used
Speaker 1: to live near her sister in Boston, and then you
Speaker 1: guys can talk a little bit about that. Or the
Speaker 1: photo of the back porch renovation can bring up a
Speaker 1: story of the best barbecue your colleague ever attended, and
Speaker 1: then you can share a local restaurant recommendation, a barbecue
Speaker 1: joint that's pretty good, maybe not the best ever, but
Speaker 1: a good substitute until she gets that back porch grill
Speaker 1: and smoker up and working. In any case, asking to
Speaker 1: see a photo will only extend a conversation by a
Speaker 1: little bit, but it will make the person feel much
Speaker 1: more or valued and give you more insight into the
Speaker 1: other person's life. Next time she mentions Benny the poodle,
Speaker 1: you can picture the dog in your mind. People take
Speaker 1: photos of everything these days, not just their Hawaii vacation,
Speaker 1: So basically anything that comes up has an illustration. Why
Speaker 1: not get the whole picture by asking to see it.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a pretty of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.