Rodeo: How to engage someone in conversation

Over lunch with the Operation Barnabas teens today I asked them for some help. I heard that they had been trained in how to engage someone they've never met before in a conversation. I thought those tips might be useful to us as we have the opportunity to engage people we've never met before at the rodeo on Sunday. The approach they use is based on the acrostic F.O.R.M.; each letter represents a potential conversation topic.

F - Family
People are usually very interested in talking about their family be it their kids, their spouse or other loved one. On Sunday, there's a high likelihood that there will be a lot of families at the event so questions about their kids/family will be a great conversation starter.

O - Occupation
Second to family topics, the OB'ers explained that adults are usually very willing to talk about what they do for a living.

R - Religion
Similar to what Bill Fay shared a few years ago, questions like, "what do you normally do on a Sunday afternoon?" or "do you regularly attend a church?" will also start a conversation.

M - Message
Unfortunately, the my lunch conversation with the OB'ers go interrupted at this point and I wasn't able to get a good definition of what Message stands for.


As of 2:30, Rodeo registrations have crossed over 1,400.