Business small talk (intermediate)
Share updates with someone you haven't seen in a while, turn formal greetings into real conversations, and wrap it up elegantly while being considerate of the other person.
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How have you been?
Use this for someone you haven't seen in a while. For someone you just saw, say 'How's it going?'.
Do you have any fun plans?
I heard you just finished a big project.
'wrap up' means to finish. Mentioning the other person's recent news makes the conversation much warmer.
When can we have a proper chat?
'catch up' means to share missed updates. Adding 'properly' means 'not briefly, but properly'.
You must be busy, so I'll let you go (I won't keep you).
It's a sophisticated way to end a conversation while being considerate of the other person.
What a small world!
How have you been lately?
'on your end' means on your side. It's useful when asking about the other person's situation in phone calls or remote collaboration.
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Intermediate small talk involves specifically mentioning the other person's recent news.
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Throwing in known information like 'I heard you just wrapped up...
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' turns formal greetings into real conversations.
- wrap up — to wrap up, to finish
- catch up — to catch up on missed updates
- plans — plans
- on your end — on your end
- properly — properly