Ask for the slideshow

People love to share pictures of good things in their lives

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that when a companion is happily telling you
about something in their life, ask them to show you photos.

(00:25):
They will be thrilled to do so, and you will
learn more about this person than you would otherwise. So
back in the olden days, people used to create slide
shows of their vacations. It was something of a running
joke that people would be invited over to a friend's

(00:45):
house and then be ambushed with a slide show of
their recent vacation to Hawaii, featuring ten shots of the
airplane wing alone. One can imagine these friends trying desperately
to escape. What good news is, most people don't do
slide shows like that anymore, but people do still take pictures,

(01:08):
and thanks to smartphones, people always have their pictures with them.
Most people would still like to share pictures of the
things they love, so why not ask for the slide show.
If your coworker tells you that her sister just had
a baby, ask to see pictures, or if her neighbor

(01:31):
got a puppy, or if she's regaling you of tales
of renovating her back porch in backyard modern sorts have
photos of all these things, so ask to see them. Ooh,
I love roses too, do you have a picture of
them in your garden? Or my neighbor growing up had
a poodle too, do you have pictures? A request for

(01:53):
the slide show does a few things. First, it shows
your companion that you are truly interested in them. You
are not looking for an excuse to get away. You
are voluntarily extending the small talk by a minute or two.
But and this is an upside for you, This small

(02:14):
talk might actually become a lot more interesting at that point.
Pictures tend to nudge a little bit of storytelling. That
photo of your colleague's niece brings up that she used
to live near her sister in Boston, and then you
guys can talk a little bit about that. Or the
photo of the back porch renovation can bring up a
story of the best barbecue your colleague ever attended, and

(02:36):
then you can share a local restaurant recommendation, a barbecue
joint that's pretty good, maybe not the best ever, but
a good substitute until she gets that back porch grill
and smoker up and working. In any case, asking to
see a photo will only extend a conversation by a
little bit, but it will make the person feel much

(02:59):
more or valued and give you more insight into the
other person's life. Next time she mentions Benny the poodle,
you can picture the dog in your mind. People take
photos of everything these days, not just their Hawaii vacation,
So basically anything that comes up has an illustration. Why

(03:24):
not get the whole picture by asking to see it.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

(03:49):
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a pretty of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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