busy
haikujaguar shared two good links:"Conversation"
"Active Listening"
However, I note this piece of flawed advice:
Also as a general rule, conversations about how people have or will interact are interesting, and conversations about objects are dull. So steer toward topics that involve human perceptions and feelings, and away from objects and things.
This is a matter of taste! Some people prefer to discuss human interactions; other people prefer to discuss objects and abstract ideas. (Based on my observations, women are more likely to favor interactions while men are more likely to favor objects, but this is not absolute.) Plenty of people like some of each, but are interested or disinterested in particular categories of interaction and objects. The key to a good conversation is to understand what the other person finds interesting. If there is no overlap between the two of you, then you should stick to practicalities or you will just frustrate each other.
My go-to source for communication is still Suzette Haden Elgin's The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense.
