Interest Insider

Interest Insider is your go-to source for “insider” information on everything from smoking meats to crocheting to bourbon and brandy. An insider is a person who is ‘in the know’, who understands the lingo and the ins-and-outs of the world that they know best. Our goal is to quickly make you understand their language. When the guy at work says “T1 popped off at MSI, Faker’s penta was wild!” or the lady in your apartment building who says “I finally got to go to the Birding Continent and saw a secretary!” you can come back with “Faker is the G.O.A.T.” or “I’ve always wanted to go to South Africa”.

Even if you don’t understand the nuances of what they are saying, our goal is to make you dangerous. Whether you are networking, trying to win over someone’s heart or just want to have better conversations, it always pays to know just a little bit about a lot. Maybe you can’t come back with insider memes, jokes or knowledge. But perhaps you can ask the right questions to get them talking. And as we know, everyone loves to talk about themselves and their interests. Our goal isn’t to make you an expert, but give you the information to make you sound like you know what you’re talking about. And who knows, maybe you’ll find a new interest along the way.

This is how our articles will typically be structured. We’ll give you a quick introduction, like you’ve just read. After that, if you are short on time, there will be a section below that can give you some go-to questions for getting an insider on that particular topic talking.

What Questions Can I Ask to Get Them Talking?

Did you read the most recent Interest Insider article?

A great question and since both parties (hopefully) read our article, you have something to talk about. Make sure you know they are an avid Interest Insider reader, or at least are interest in self-help or networking topics.

What is the meaning of life?

While this can spark some potentially deep conversation, it can induce an existential crisis. Ask with caution.

Those are just some example questions, but hopefully they give you an idea. For each question, we’ll give a quick breakdown so you know what you’re asking and when you should and shouldn’t ask it. After that, we’ll do a breakdown of some key terms. This is where we are going to teach you to speak their language. It might look something like this:

Insider Lingo

Interest: something someone enjoys doing or learning about.

Insider: someone who is well versed in a particular interest.

Networking: interacting with others to develop contacts, in the professional or social world.

Conversation: where two or more people exchange ideas or talk about mutual interests.

Life: that thing we all do between birth and death.

Once you have a firm grasp of the insider lingo for that particular interest, we can dive into some common themes or sub-topics one might talk about. As you can imagine, some interests will have ‘hot-topics’ that will change over time. We will cover these but will be careful to mention they will not stay current forever. Primarily, the focus will be on the subjects, themes, ideas, structure, and so on that will give you a base of knowledge that isn’t going to change day-to-day. It will be your bread and butter to make people think you are just as interesting as you actually are. After this relatively brief introductory section to give you the quick and dirty details, we’ll switch to more detailed information if you want to stick around and satiate your curiosity around that particular interest.

Hot Topics

Here we’ll go over topics that are current gossip, if there are any, in a particular interest. Not all interests will have hot topics, but if we are talking about something seasonal such as say, football, then there will be talk about who the best player currently is. These will change with time, so we will make sure to mention when and if these topics will go out of style and how quickly the topic changes. The idea is to give you a jump start on the current talking points that people immersed in this world are talking about.

We Need to Go Deeper

In this section we will talk in more detail about the topic if you want to learn more. We’ll also look into things like how to get started if you want to dip your toes in. Or give you some easy links to resources where you can learn more or get the basics you need to join the insider club for that particular interest. Where possible, we will also get an expert to weigh in and give their opinion and tips for newbies who are either getting a start, or just wants to know the basics. Again, our goal here is to give you a good overview of the topic at hand. The purpose will be to give you insight into the world of a baker, or fantasy bookworm, or an avid fly fisher. Being able to talk to anyone is of utmost importance when networking. However, we are all naturally curious and we want to provide as much information here as we can.

Networking

Like we have already mentioned above, this is our true purpose, not to get you to become a snowboarder. To help you network and become more well liked and received in your social circles. There are many tips and tricks to be more charismatic; have good eye contact, smile, small touches, mirroring, and so on. But making you a conversational genius is what we are tasked with doing. When it comes down to it, networking is just having conversations. And studies show that if you can get the other person to talk about themselves and their interests, they will think you were fun to talk to. Even if you hardly did any talking! This method of conversing and networking can go a long way in opening up opportunities for business and social capital.

Genuine Interest

When you engage in conversation about someone’s interest, make sure you are being sincere about how you approach. We can give you the starter knowledge to jump start them talking, but it’s your job to listen. Use that curiosity that brought you here to dig deeper to really understand whatever it is they love. This will make you seem genuine and friendly, and you will probably learn a thing or two! File the information that you learned away for later, so next time you see that guy from the office you can ask him how his favorite eSports team is doing during this summer split. You don’t have to remember every little thing, but just a little goes a long way.

In addition to our articles, we will send out a newsletter for each new article which will give you just the most important information, right to your inbox. This will be the cream of the crop, essentially the quick intro section you see at the beginning shaved down. That way, if you’re about to meet with a top executive who loves golf and you aren’t sure what color golf balls usually are, we can help you make a last impression with just a couple minutes of reading. Sign up now so you don’t miss any of our new articles.