For one morning, practice finding common ground with strangers or people you hardly know. Try to find it in less than sixty seconds. Throughout the afternoon, do it in less than thirty seconds.
Ask questions that send a person strainght into his or her imagination. These don't have to be odd or unusual. They simply can't be closed-ended, like "Have you been here before?" Rather ask "What do you think about this convention space?" We call them trance questions because for a split second people glaze over as they go looking for an answer. A funny thing happens to many folks when they go into their imagination at your request: There's a kind of intimacy that happens. It's as though they think you can see, hear, feel, taste and smell the same things they can inside their mind. Ask someone about the last really funny movie they saw and watch their expression and demeanor change.
Actively listen and observe how others find common ground. Collect your own supply of questions. You can't use the same questions for everyone, because we all have differing sensibilities, but you'd be surprised at how many people you can reach with no more than three or four good questions.
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