Share low stakes hot takes

Get people talking by figuring out what unimportant matters get them worked up

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that if you want to liven up a conversation,
ask for low stakes hot takes. Get people talking about

(00:27):
things they feel passionate about but that aren't all that
important in the grand scheme of things, and you will
probably be chatting for hours. Now. When it comes to
social gatherings, I do not promote hot takes in general.
A hot take is basically defined as a quick commentary
on something that is designed to attract attention. Content that

(00:52):
is high on intensity and low on rigor, which a
lot of immediate reactions are can quickly go awry. But
I love the idea of a low stakes hot take,
as I heard someone recently refer to this idea. The
concept is to talk about things you feel oddly passionate about,
even though they don't really matter all that much. These

(01:16):
low stakes hot takes can add energy to conversations. So
if the conversation is at a lull or has been
a bit heavy, you can start going around the room
to have people share a low stakes hot take. Maybe
one person will make the case for live versus artificial

(01:36):
Christmas trees. Another person might start asserting that sending a
friendly reminder about an upcoming deadline is annoying and unnecessary,
one more reason that our inboxes are ridiculously full. Someone
might make the case that no one should ever start
a toast by saying they are nervous about public speaking.

(01:59):
None of these things really matter all that much, but
it is fun to voice strong opinions. Nonetheless, I have
even heard of using loose stakes hot takes as an icebreaker.
This could be a lot more engaging than the usual
fun fact icebreaker, which here is my loose stakes hot
take isn't fun to listen to. Gathering expert Priya Parker

(02:24):
says healthy heat is good for group life. I think
that's true. Playful arguing ups the energy level and adds
a little competition and intensity, but without introducing real stress
or risk. As much as we can pretend to be
indignant about someone else's hot take when it's low steaks,

(02:47):
we know it doesn't really matter. We don't need to agree.
No one's identity is threatened. No one is going to
take this personally. I mean, unless one of your conversation
partners is in the artificial Christmas tree business or something.
So if you're trying to liven things up, consider asking
people to share a low Steaks hot take. You will

(03:10):
get some healthy heat and maybe a window into each
other's personalities too. And if you want to share your
low Steaks hot take with me, send it to Laura
at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

(03:33):
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

(03:56):
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
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