Everyone has something interesting to say, and people want to hear our thoughts!
Engaging with people in public spaces through conversation and connection benefits our own professional development, and builds the community we all so desperately crave. It benefits everyone. Sharing is caring!
That said, thinking out loud on social media, at an event, in a Medium article, or even in a meeting, can be challenging. First you need the confidence to take a chance and share your ideas. Still, it can be difficult to even come up with something to talk about.
If you're in need of some inspiration, give this list of 100 conversation prompts a gander. See what strikes you and start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys, voice to text, etc.)
Experiment, iterate, and have fun!
You can also download a PDF here.
🎙 ✍️ 👩🏾💻 📠
The 100 Prompts
1. Your manifesto
2. Your mission
3. People, places, or things that inspire you
4. An accomplishment
5. A time when you found your voice
6. A cause you are passionate about
7. Something that frustrates you, with solutions
8. Your values and beliefs, and how you adhere to them in your work
9. A favorite quote, and why it’s meaningful
10. A challenge you overcame and what you learned
11. A progress update
12. What you learned in your first job
13. The expectations you had for your career when you were younger and how it’s
played out
14. Celebrate a colleague
15. Something you learned today
16. A favorite resource (book, podcast, etc.)
17. Advice based on an experience
18. Something you learned at a recent event
19. What motivates you
20. The story of how you got to where you are
21. Advice you would give your younger self
22. A time you proved something to yourself
23. A lesson you learned at work
24. The best advice you ever got from a manager
25. Something radically honest
26. Ask for feedback
27. Ask for help
28. Industry trends
29. A solution to a common problem or challenge (e.g., time management, prioritizing,
etc.)
30. A prompt or question
31. Something you’re proud of
32. What’s going on in your life, at work, with your business
33. What you’ve been thinking about
34. What you’ve been talking about with others
35. The skills you use the most or the least
36. Something you’re grateful for
37. Something you would do if you knew you couldn’t fail
38. A time you took a leap or went outside your comfort zone
39. An opportunity for self-improvement and how you’re addressing it
40. A deep question you want to answer by the time you’re 85 years old
41. An educated prediction for the future
42. Something you can’t stop thinking about
43. A problem you would like to solve, and a request for ideas
44. An overview of your career path and insights you’ve gained
45. How you got your last job or client
46. Describe the qualities of your ideal coworker
47. How you use your education/training in your job
48. A giveaway - favorite book, conference ticket, mentoring
49. What you enjoy about working in your industry
50. Your ideal job - the what, the where, the why
51. Experiences with burnout
52. Reflections on workplace culture
53. Your take on current events
54. Working with challenging stakeholders
55. A goal and how you plan to achieve it
56. Introduce or reintroduce yourself
57. Something you’re looking for
58. Advice for getting a job in your field
59. Productivity tips
60. Advice for newbies
61. The most challenging aspect of your job
62. The steps you took to achieve a goal
63. Something you would do differently if you could go back in time
64. Your origin story; the origin story of your business
65. Roundup of links on a favorite topic
66. Conduct a poll
67. Where you see yourself in 6 or 12 months
68. The best part of your workday/workweek
69. An interview with someone in your field
70. A key takeaway from an article you read
71. A how-to guide
72. A major realization and what you did next
73. A message to your teenage self
74. The best/worst boss you ever had
75. Thank someone
76. How you take care of yourself
77. How you got into your field
78. A time someone changed your perspective
79. Your top career tips
80. A guest post from someone in your field
81. Your favorite tools/apps
82. Something you’d like to change about your field
83. An unpopular opinion
84. Lists! My top 5…. 10 methods for…
85. Who you are outside of work
86. Your top favorite social media accounts
87. The state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your field and how it can improve
88. A day in the life
89. A new idea
90. Extend an invite to the community
91. How you maintain your work/life balance
92. What fascinates you
93. Make an argument against something that others believe to be correct
94. An announcement
95. Something you wish people knew about you; assumptions they make
96. Insider tips and tricks
97. Your take on something controversial
98. A review of a product or service that others are interested in
99. A template
100. A reality check
Tips
1. Be authentic--be yourself! Showcase your personality
2. Remember your audience and what they’re interested in - relevance!
3. Encourage engagement
4. Make it visual with an image, gif, meme or video
5. Put captions on videos
6. Touch on the why -- why is this thing you’re talking about important?
7. Turn your social media posts into blog posts or Medium articles
8. Draft on paper or in a doc before publishing it in public so you focus on the content
rather than worrying about the platform interface
9. Emojis! 👽 💓 👀
10. Promptly respond to comments to continue the conversation