4 questions to answer before the first date

1. What will you talk about

Dating is not an endless chat, where, as a last resort, they switch to emoji and save the conversation. After an unsuccessful message, you can refer to autocorrect, to the fact that a cat sat down on the keyboard or a smartphone was stolen by a younger sister. When meeting, these excuses do not work, and from time to time the conversation is interrupted.

Prepare so that the silence doesn't drag on:

1. Find common ground. Choose topics that interest you. As a rule, we communicate with friends or colleagues in a certain manner, on certain topics and rarely leave our comfort zone. Communication with a stranger, especially if he is sympathetic, is another matter. Here you need a balance between formal and plus or minus friendly communication.

You probably didn't know this, but try to name five interesting (pay attention to this word) topics that you are ready to talk to a stranger about. If it doesn't work out, take a closer look at your profile on social networks or in a dating app: you will probably find a detail in the cloud of interests that you did not pay attention to. For example: "You have a trip to Europe indicated in your profile, tell us what kind of trip it was." This is what interests in Badoo look like - it is immediately clear what to chat about and what can unite you.

2. Think about what is important for you to learn. The first date is always a little interview, and it's okay to ask a few neutral questions that will help you get to know the person better: “I love TV shows, do you? Have you come across anything interesting lately?”,“By the way, I snowboard, it's so beautiful on the mountain top! Do you ride anything? Talking about yourself and asking questions will help you find common ground with a new acquaintance.

2. What you won't talk about

It happens that at the first meeting there is no awkward silence, and it seems that you have known each other for a thousand years. Even if this pleasant feeling appears, you should not get carried away and tell everything at once. In order not to miss the choice of a topic, remember one main rule:

Don't whine about problems.

We are looking for new friends and acquaintances to make life brighter and richer, and perhaps your interlocutor will become a person who will support in a difficult situation, but not at the first meeting! Give positive emotions, and you will be answered in kind.

Well, if something went wrong, do not panic and make a poker face, carefully close the topics that you do not want to talk about.

Useful phrases for such a case:

I'm not in the mood to talk about it.
I need to think, now I cannot formulate my opinion.
It's too personal.
For me, this is an unpleasant topic, you better tell me how you usually spend your weekend.

3. Who is hiding behind the photo

The world does not stand still, and from year to year everything around us becomes more technological, including communications. A huge number of instant messengers and social networks have made communication as easy as possible, but have created new barriers. For example, how do you know if the person in the photo is real?

Today, the list of social networks that care about the safety of users is small. But those companies that are already thinking about high-tech security systems surprise with a variety of functions. For example, Badoo's dating service verifies a user's identity using photo verification in one minute.

That is, to steal a photo of a model from a photo bank and pass it off as your own is not an option, 5,000 moderators around the world are watching this.

Meet those who have verified their profile (this can be seen by the mark at the top of the photo), and on a date you will see the same person as in the photo (only without Photoshop).

Badoo: profile confirmation

And this is not the only way to confirm a person's identity. The app has an ingenious feature - video chat. To make sure that the person you are talking to is who you expect to see, invite him to chat using a video call.

So you can not only check the identity of the user, but also communicate with people from different countries, learn a foreign language, chatting with native speakers, and talk even if you are far from each other.

In this case, you do not have to provide your personal phone number, as is the case in instant messengers, or other private information that social networks show. In addition, video chat is impossible if one of the partners does not want to enter into correspondence or even simply did not respond to the first message.

Now the risk of disappointment at the first meeting is noticeably reduced, since with a video chat, users can find out whether the interlocutor smiles so warmly in life, as in the profile photo, whether butterflies flutter in the stomach at the sound of his voice, and, most importantly, from the very beginning to feel whether a spark ran between them.

4. Where will you go

Choose a location that has something to discuss during or after your visit. It can be a photo exhibition, restaurant or cafe with an unusual concept. Many people advise avoiding clubs and other noisy places, because during the first meeting you need to get to know each other better and be sure to talk. This is correct if you like a cozy atmosphere and long conversations.

But why do you have to turn your first meeting into an interview? If you like noisy places, you like dancing, or a cool band is performing somewhere, don't limit the program to a glass of coffee in the park, invite your new friend to join you at a party or concert!