[Bombadil]

Sometimes when I am with someone I don't know very well but would like to make conversation I have nothing to say. Once a conversation is going I'm all good, it's just finding a subject.

Any advice?

Thanks

[Augustus777]

I have this problem too brah, something that you improve upon naturally. ENTP's can get nervous or stalled like any other human being, but thankfully once we overcome these we are just epic.

It's mostly just practice, but what I do is I just start rambling about something totally crazy, like how as a kid I was scared of the the power rangers. Doesn't even have to be true. Once you take hold of a convo you can basically talk about whatever and suck the other person into your demented ENTP reality. Needless to say it's awesome with the ladies too.

[sighcantthinkofaname]

Yeah, starting conversations suck. It helps if I'm with someone who's good at starting conversations (I have plenty of ENFP and a few ESFP friends who can easily talk to people), or the person I want to talk to is interested in talking as well. I have the luxury of being able to use the "What school do you go to?" Or "What class do you have next?" conversation starters.
I find a simple question will get them feeling more comfortable and then our brains can relate it to something more interesting. It's also good to get them talking about themselves because it makes them feel more comfortable, and then we can eventually talk about ourselves without feeling like it's a one-sided conversation.

[aef8234]

How ___ works.
The error in ___.
How ___ is doing.

'snot that hard.

[Kaylee]

Err, start talking about anything. The start of a conversation doesn't have to be amazing, it only has to get the persons attention. It get's easier with time, but the only way you can get better at conversation-starting is to put yourself in those situations where you have to start conversations. It may be out of your comfort zone but dive in anyway. You'll realize that you aren't half-bad.

[Shinji Mimura]

I tend to just bring things up and see if they can catch on to anything and take it from there. If the first few times yield no results, just change the topic. But if they're clearly just not going for anything, I tend to not really want to waste my time on them. I'm a social person and those who cannot provide mutual dialogue tend to not be people I wish to have in my life.

[gingertonic]

I don't care about "making conversation" with people. I'd rather talk about interesting things. If you don't want to talk about interesting things, I don't want to talk at all.

Modern society needs to get over its conversation fetish.

[tanstaafl28]

Something always comes up. Start with the pleasantries and think about what's been intriguing you lately. Something you read, learned, heard, saw on TV, or ran across on the web, etc.

[The Stig]

It's mostly just practice, but what I do is I just start rambling about something totally crazy, like how as a kid I was scared of the the power rangers. Doesn't even have to be true. Once you take hold of a convo you can basically talk about whatever and suck the other person into your demented ENTP reality. Needless to say it's awesome with the ladies too.

Exactly what I do. It works all the time, as long as you don't seem borderline psychotic/crazy about it. At work someone mentioned something (that I was very interested in) once which got me "excited" and he was telling me to calm down as I was becoming increasingly loud. I've since learnt to suppress this "excitement" and speak more professionally/calmly/cooly.

I think the best one was I started going on about toilet anxiety, meaning, I can't go for a piss if I know someone is waiting for me, or if someone knocks on the door. This totally got her going as she experiences the same thing, so we went on to chat about various "habits" in and around the bathroom before moving on to interesting things.

I detailed in another thread how I am perfectly capable and able to start and hold conversations, but usually the recipient is unable to or gets bored or doesn't follow what I say, choosing for more simple things to ask to talk about that has absolutely no meaning to it other than to really pass time.

[Cab_no]

When I'm talking to a girls(girls who are not friends of mine in this case) I usually make a comment or question about how she looks(make up, dressing, acessories) it almost always work, girls in general like to talk about it, and it is a very easy topic to go out off. Perfect for starting a conversation, easy to start talking about and easy to change to another subject.
I'm more awkard around guys, but I tend to talk about football(soccer) or something else I know the person likes.

In the girls case I tend to add some flirting to the process, flattery etc.
Anyway, conversation starters aren't very fun and no one cares about them, as long as you can keep a good conversation going afterwards, the girl won't even remember how it started. Unless you made a compliment, that they tend to remember.