More Conversational Icebreakers: Occupational 20 Questions and Website Poll

Occupational 20 Questions

Even I'm strongly committed to finding alternatives to asking strangers what they do for a living, I've found occupational 20 questions is good and somehow less offensive way to kill time at parties. You can even get to know something about the person you're talking to without feeling all awkward, and it's a game that requires that you not know the person you're playing with. I've bragged more than once that the first time I played this game, I guessed "youth pastor" correctly after 17 questions! Sadly, ever since that early victory, I don't think I've guessed correctly once. I keep getting stumped by answers like, "legal copying manager"! But I'm a lot better at inventing games than playing them, so probably you'll do a lot better.

Here are some good questions to get the ball rolling:

• Are you a web developer?
• Do you spend most of your time indoors?
• Did you have to have special training to get your job?
• Do you work with children?

Note: it's not really "cool" to ask things like, "do you make more than $50k a year?"

What Are the First Three Websites You Look at Everyday?

This question is becoming less relevent as more people use RSS feeds, but even so, I still tend to favor clicking on my RSS links in a particular order. It's a question that only works for people who spend a lot of time clicking on things, obviously.

(I'm putting common answers below the fold so you can think about your answer without being influenced)

(p.s. photo is a farm display made up primarily of grains and legumes from the Wahkiakum County Fair, which was excellent.)