"Do you have any strong feelings about....? or "I have read recently about....., did you know that....?

Try to ask open ended questions such as, "What did you think of the presidential debate the other night?" (unfortunately, that one is only good every four years, but you get the idea) A question with a yes or no answer has less of a chance of leading to something interesting. Too many questions and you may feel like you're interrogating them! If you don't know what the other person is interested in, start out with something general. "Have you seen/read anything good lately?" You can also lead off with something interesting you read in the news or a magazine. Some of the science magazines like Discover or New Scientist have short blurbs about the latest discoveries. Others have a short paragraph about the latest dirt on celebrities. Eventually you'll find a good source of conversation starters. One of the most important things, though, is to know what interests you. It can be easy to start a conversation the other person is interested in, but you may not care about the same things. Pay attention to ways you can steer the conversation toward something you both may like. This usually involves finding a way a different topic relates to the one you are discussing. Maybe talking about fly larvae doesn't excite you but the CSI TV show does. Use an episode where they used insect evidence to solve a case to move onto a topic you like better. If you're into heated debates, you can usually count on politics or religion to get things going. If not, you should probably steer clear of them.

I was on a train, and I just said "Hi, where are you off to?" And went from there. It was amazing the convosation I had! didn't shut up for four hours!

Use the who, what, when, where, and why approach. it works for me, when the scene becomes boring.

find the person interset and start from their

Observe the person for a while ,smile a few times usually they will speak to you. if not . Grin and ask a silly question once you can start laughing the conversation subjects get easy and flow .Always listen carefully to any nuances so that you can direct the thread along what you perceive are their interests. as well as your own. not a lot if point in pursuing a conversation that you find boring.

While it doesn't always take two to fight, it does take two to have an interesting conversation. All the open-ended questions on earth won't help you if you're talking ot a doorknob. So think about who you are having a conversation with. Gear your questions to areas the other peraon will have interest in. A 5 year old can tell you all about Sponge Bob, but you probably won't gain a lot of insight about the combustion engine.