Whether you are waiting in a conference room, airport lounge or meeting someone for a date, the ability to start a conversation and keep it interesting will win you many things in life. But if you are one of those who can never find a common ground in conversations with strangers, The Art of Witty Banter will give you some generic starters and tips to become a suave conversationalist, with witty banter one-liners.
Patrick King is a Social Interaction Specialist and Conversation Coach based in San Francisco, California. He focuses on using his unique emotional intelligence and understanding of human interaction to break down emotional barriers, instill confidence, and equip people with the tools they need for success.
The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Be Quick, Be Interesting – Create Captivating Conversation Kindle Edition
Author: Patrick King
Print Length: 150 pages
Publisher: Plain Key Media (November 19, 2016)
ASIN: B01N54NM0Y
The Art of Witty Banter Summary
The author begins with a short introduction to how he got into this conversation analysis stuff early on as a kid. Amused by the quick and witty responses, the author found out that you could learn to break awkward silence and become a conversation started with practice, just as become a good baseball pitcher a swimmer.
He starts with introducing you to some standard conversation starters and some standard set of responses. No, these are not hard-coded responses that will give you away as a follower of Patrick King :). The author asks you to resort to classify any potential answer by dipping into three types of answers: respond with a personal experience, answer with an interesting question or your opinion about the topic, or comment how you think it is similar to something you know. These responses will keep the conversation going and you can easily avoid awkward silence.
The short 15o page book then doles out advice on specific situations and shares techniques that you can use in you daily conversations. He also warns you about what not to do. How not to ask awkward questions that will make others uncomfortable and avoid you in future. With witty banter examples and real life situations, the author simulates some conversation scenarios that the readers will find helpful.
But to come across as charming you need more than not ask awkward questions. In the latter part of The Art of Witty Banter, the author introduces you to the technique of light teasing and how to flatter. But it is difficult to remember so many things when you are not a natural, the cheat sheet toward the end of the book gives you a ready reference to remind you of the stuff he has discussed in earlier chapters.
The Art of Witty Banter Reviews
The audience have rated The Art of Witty Banter as above average. While they agree that this not for someone who wants to break into Stand-up comedy, the witty banter tips and tricks are good enough to bring the readers out of their shell and at least not come across as awkward or shy.