Looking for ways to meet new people?

You’re in the right place!

Maybe you’ve just moved to a new city and you’re looking to get out there and make new friends.

Maybe you’ve lived in your city for years, but you’ve been stuck in a routine.

Either way, here’s a list of 30+ ways to meet new people.

We’ve all been there…

You’re in virtual meeting after meeting and it feels like ALL you do is hop into business. 

It’s nearly impossible for someone to stay in work mode all day, and an occasional pivot to something a little more exciting than work can be very beneficial. 

Icebreaker questions are great ways to connect with people, bolster team building, make new people feel welcome, and learn a bit about yourself, too!

Icebreaker questions can also…

• Help the team loosen up a little bit
• Make a stressful week a little more enjoyable
• Promote stronger relationships within teams
• Spark ideas that are related to work (but the rest of the conversation can wait for the conference room)
• Make after-work drinks a little more fun!

As more companies go remote, it’s going to be easy to hop into the trap of Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting with no team building moments…

But you can prevent it with a little excitement and change!

This list of 170+ Icebreaker questions will make your next 4-hour planning meeting fun (well… somewhat, at least).

Also--these questions can also be used at an after-work happy hour, meetup, or whenever you’re meeting a group of new people!

Effective communication is one of the most powerful skills you can have as you move through the world.

Communicating effectively helps you understand other people’s motivations, and gives you the power to share your own insights without anything getting lost in the shuffle. 

Effective communication can help you in your career, socially, and in your personal relationships.

For example, effective communication can help with:

• Navigating an emotionally charged conversation at work
• Breaking out of conflict patterns with your significant other
• Creating a plan for a new collaborative project

With the tool of effective communication in your toolbox, you’ll have fewer misunderstandings, be better able to communicate your wants and needs, and enjoy better relationships with others! 

So let’s dive in!

Ahh...would you rather questions!

When you think about it, our decisions mold who we are as much as anything else does, outside of the people who raised us. 

Some decisions are easier to make than others, and level-of-importance also varies greatly, but pretty much all questions we need to answer have some aspect of “would you rather…”

“Would you rather go to college, join the military, or hit the workforce when you become an adult?” would be an example of a pretty heavy “would you rather” question, and it’s also a great conversation starter. 

However, sometimes something as simple as “Would you rather sing or dance?” can teach you just as much about someone, depending on how much they actually enjoy either or both options.

(It’s also fun to see how they handle tradeoffs )

This list of 159+ would you rather questions was designed to help you lead conversations and learn more about your friends, coworkers, or even complete strangers.

The first section, “Would You Rather Questions for Friends” will be more suited for people you know, but the other two: “Funny Would You Rather Questions” and “Deep Would You Rather Questions” are questions you can use with anyone!

For more questions: Check out this list of 150+ Interesting Questions to Ask Friends.

Let’s dive in!

Our friends are some of the most important people to us.

They support us, have fun with us, and inspire us!

Jim Rohn, entrepreneur and achiever, said it best:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

But what do we do when some of those people are fake friends?

Listen, we’ve all been there.

You’ve got a group of pals, but you’ve got a feeling that things just aren’t right.

When you’re surrounded by your REAL friends, your life is more awesome and hanging out is much less draining. 

But how can you tell the difference between a real friend and a fake friend?

Questions serve a bigger purpose than just being a way to get an answer from someone. 

They help steer conversations, they make us think, and they open up parts of people’s personalities we didn’t know were there. 

This list of 150+ questions to ask friends is split into four categories, each for different situations with friends! 

Have you ever known someone for many years and they say something that makes you think “How did I never know that?”

Asking questions can do so much for a friendship, and asking questions to friends also helps you build social confidence so you can bring your question-asking skills to other settings where you might not be as comfortable. 

From finding common interests to learning how you can best support your friends, questions can be the framework for deep and meaningful conversations friendships. 

Here’s the list of 150+ interesting questions to ask friends!

Have you ever watched someone give a presentation or run a tough meeting at work and thought… 

“How can I be the one doing that?!”

Time for some real talk...

As much as corporate culture claims to reward loyalty and hard work, more often than not, it’s the people who have excellent communication skills who get hired and promoted. 

It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just human nature. 

Learning how to improve communication skills will pay off for the rest of your career.

People who are able to communicate with confidence and finesse have an easier time building a rapport with others. 

When you’re more likeable, people’s cognitive biases tend to assign you other positive qualities as well--whether or not you fully deserve them. 

Unfair? Maybe.

Reality? Definitely.

If you feel like you’re struggling to communicate in your career, or that you’ve been passed over one too many times for that project or promotion, consider learning how to improve your communication skills!

At a certain point in your career, you look around and realize EVERYONE is technically proficient. Developing better communication skills is what will help you stand out from the crowd.

Also, a side benefit is: You'll communicate better in your personal life as well as your career!

​Win/win! Let's dive in!

Let’s dig in!

Do you have a friend or coworker who just seems to know how to build rapport with pretty much anyone in any social situation? 

It may seem like magic..they walk over, start talking, and it looks like they’ve known each other for years--even though they just met!

That’s the power learning how to build rapport.

​And the great thing is...building rapport is a learnable skill... and that’s what we’re talking about today.

There is nothing wrong with being nice. 

Doing things for people who need help, being considerate, being generous--these are all traits to be admired. 

However, there is a very fine line between being “nice” and being a people pleaser. 

So how can you tell the difference?

For starters, being a do-gooder comes with feelings of joy and satisfaction--like when you volunteer at a soup kitchen or help an elderly woman carry her groceries to the car. 

Chronic people pleasing can look similar on the outside (helping a coworker catch up on a project for instance) but comes with feelings of resentment and overwhelm--usually followed by guilt for feeling that way. 

These negative feelings are caused by burnout. People pleasers tend to overcommit to others and say yes at their own expense. 

For many of us (yes, I’m a recovering people pleaser as well!), this burnout and resentment become a vicious cycle that can harm our relationships and reduce our quality of life. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss how to identify people pleasing tendencies and how to stop them. 

You can still be a good person, but you won’t get stuck doing stuff you don’t want to do because you’re afraid of what other people will think of you. 

No more...

• Blowing up your Friday by picking your friend from the airport in rush hour traffic.
• Helping your coworker's sister (that you've never met) move.
• Babysitting your friend’s “I swear he’s really nice” dog. 

Once you stop people pleasing, you’ll be amazed by the sense of relief and clarity. Your relationships will improve, you'll make more genuine friendships and your self-esteem will grow as you learn to stand up for yourself in a way that is confident, tactful, and kind. 

When you stop people pleasing, you know that you're doing whatever you want because YOU want to, not so that others will approve of you. 

Real talk…

EVERYONE feels socially inept at some point in their lives.

It’s just part of being human.

​Maybe you’ve felt socially inept when…

• You told a joke that totally bombed at that backyard BBQ.
• You accidentally blurted out something rude and didn’t realize it until later.
• Your brain seems to shut off and you have no idea what to say in conversations.

If you’ve ever felt like that...I’m here to tell you that it’s okay. It happens!

And the great thing is that being socially inept is something that can be improved. Working on your communication skills can help you become more socially skilled and that feeling of being socially inept will fade away.

Look, we’ve ALL been there… We meet a new friend, or hit up an old friend, and they lay this on you…

“What should we do?”

“Uhh…I don’t know, I’m good with whatever…”

I think it’s always better to have a plan rather than just doing the same old thing.

If you’re looking for things to do with friends, you are in the right place. I have 225+ things on this list that you can do with friends.

So if you’re…

• Looking for things to do with friends on the weekend. Check.
• Looking for things to do with friends at home. Check.
• Looking for things to do with friends when bored. Check.

…I’ve got you covered!

Doing memorable or even challenging things with friends is important because it can lead to peak experiences that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

Keep this list handy and you’ll never run out of things to do.

If you’re looking for topics to bring up while you’re doing things with friends, be sure to check out my list of 300+ conversation topics and starters.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

Learning how to make friends as an adult is HARD! 

I feel like they should have warned us.

But when you think about it, it makes sense... 

​In school, you have classes, labs, study groups, organized functions, clubs...all sorts of ways to meet new people and connect. 

But once you’re working 8-5 (or 7-6 if you’re like most of us), it becomes a lot more difficult to find the time and energy to invest in other people.

Not to mention finding people your age and with similar interests in the first place!

And once you DO find those people, how do you turn them into friends?
​

• Who sends the first text?
• Is it awkward to ask them to hang out?
• What if it turns out you have nothing in common and you could have been at home with your plants and your dog??

We’ll cover all these questions and more! 

We all know and love (and want to be) those people…

The funny ones.

The ones who seem to crack up co-workers and friends with a word or a well-timed gesture. 

People gravitate towards them--even you. Funny people make you laugh and smile and feel good, who wouldn’t want to be around them?

Even though it can feel like some people are born to be funny and others are born to laugh, you can actually learn how to be funny. 

Learning how to be funny in conversation is a crucial people skill. It will help you: 

• Become more likable.
• Make people more comfortable in your presence. 
• Boost your self-esteem. 
• Improve your mood. 
• Give you the confidence you need to succeed socially! 

Just like any skill, learning how to be funny takes practice! If being funny doesn’t come naturally to you, just remember:

There’s no such thing as a funny baby. 

No one is actually born funny. 

It’s a skill that these people have been working on and building for a long time - probably since childhood. 

The class clowns, the crack-ups we remember those kids. Now that they’re all grown up, they’ve used that experience to their advantage. 

They’ve had a lot more time to learn from trial and error what’s funny and what’s not (and that’s an equally important skill--learning what types of humor to avoid). 

So let’s get to it...

Look, we’ve all been there...

You see someone...and you wonder how to start a conversation with them. 

Then you feel it…

Your mind starts to race - maybe so fast that it starts to go blank. 

“What should I say?” “No, that’s stupid, no one says that!“

And by the time you psyche yourself up to start the conversation, the other person has ordered their tall Americano and sailed out the door.

Ah, such is life, you tell yourself. But it doesn’t have to be this way! 

With the right gameplan, you could be chatting up tall Americano right now and making a new friend.

I know...easier said than done.

​Learning how to start a conversation and developing a gameplan to help you practice and grow your newfound skills takes effort, know-how, and guidance. 

Luckily, you’re in the right place.

When my clients ask me how to start a conversation, my first response is this:

While what you say first IS important, it’s not as important as what you say second.

In fact, for most of my clients, the best conversation starter is: “Hi, I’m [Your Name].”

I know, I know...

It feels almost too simple. But it’s often how we follow up that first statement that makes or breaks the interaction.

Look, sometimes we just need a little extra push to come up with something to say...some extra conversation starters to help that awkward silence melt away.

I got you.

Here are 300+ conversation starters and topics for you use in several different social settings. Use them with friends, coworkers, on dates, or out at happy hour!

(Also: If you need help with how to start conversations, check out this article.)

Pro tip #1:
Find 5 of your favorites and write them down on the notes app on your phone. Use them in your conversations this week.

Pro tip #2:
Be sure to balance asking questions with telling stories, and making statements. (No one wants to feel interrogated!)

​Let's swan dive in... (For fun, I've answered a few of these in bold parentheses)