Unless you were born funny and brilliant with a million amazing things to say, there might be the odd gap in conversation during your date. Of course you can always just pepper the other person with questions all night and let them do all the talking, but that will just tire them out and leave them feeling that they never got to know you (unless they are self-absorbed, in which case they'll love the chance to talk about themselves non-stop).

And that goes for you too. Avoid at all costs trying to force your views on your date. Be passionate and enthusiastic by all means, but don't bang on about your pet topic all night long. What you need is a nice wide range of interesting things lined up to talk about, other than your own life story.

As we point out in our new book on First Dates and making true love appear in your life, called 'First Date Magic' the aim of early dates is to use the ebb and flow of conversation to establish common ground and get a feeling for what the other person is all about. All it takes is a little prep time before the date.

Practice your best lines and anecdotes on friends, family, or even in front of a mirror so that you can pull them out when you hit an awkward silence or just want to make an impression. Just knowing you have these lines at the ready will give you more confidence and assurance the whole evening.

Here a just a few of the clever ways we suggest in First Date Magic to fill your mind with excellent topics for First Date conversation (we also have a list of dozens of conversation starters to help you if you get tongue-tied or go blank!)

The first thing to do is read the day's news. Do it everyday. Be informed about the big stories and know enough to have a reasonable opinion - and remember ALL stories have at least two sides to consider. Parroting back one point of view only makes you seem closed-minded and set in your ways (not attractive).

Use Google. Look up Google Trends to see what the rest of world currently finds interesting. You can also set up iGoogle as your home page and add an amazing array of news feeds on everything from Variety to BBC News.

Another smart thing you can do with iGoogle is see what a range of smart celebs and important opinion leaders from all over the world have on their home page, and grab their stuff for yours. Ashton Kutcher gave me the idea to add the Joke of the Day to my iGoogle. Add a DIGG feed too, while you're at it - there's so much interesting stuff out there, and the more of it you're exposed to, the more interesting you will be.

Anyway you get the idea. Just tuck away good stuff to talk about, and then pull it out when the conversation needs a boost - but you don't have to blurt it all out, just because it's in there. Use it wisely, and you'll seem like a person who's active, smart, worldly, well informed and stimulating to be around (which are very attractive things to be).

First Date Magic
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