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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
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 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 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 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 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.
None of these things really matter all that much, but it is fun to voice strong opinions nonetheless.
I've even heard of using low stakes hot takes as an icebreaker.
This could be a lot more engaging than the usual fun fact icebreaker, which here is my low stakes hot take isn't fun to listen to.
Gathering expert Priya Parker 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 stakes 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-stakes hot take.
You will get some healthy heat and maybe a window into each other's personalities too.
And if you want to share your low stakes hot take with me, send it to laura at lauravandercam.com.
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, Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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