Conversation starters in retirement living

Joining a new community is a roller coaster ride of emotions. We can all remember our first day of high school (well, maybe we can). Some of us relish the chance to make new friends and naturally start conversations with complete strangers. For us introverts it can be a terrorising feeling having to begin an awkward conversation with someone we don’t know.  You will know where you fit on that continuum but as a leader of your community you will have a responsibility and opportunity to make that process of new members joining your community so much easier. 

This is particularly important if you are opening a new residential community. You have lots of new residents with a long list of anxious questions about the property they are moving into, where to find things, and how to get access to facilities that will be consuming them. On top of all of these questions is the reality that these residents are participating in community living and for some, all that potential anxiety about moving in will be exacerbated by the negative doubts about themselves and making friends or getting on with their neighbours.

How to help people get to know each other in your community

You can really speed up the process of building community and helping residents get to know each other by being intentional in the types of activities you run and the conversations you start in your community communications. 

We have put together a list of conversation starters to be used in your retirement community. You can use these questions in a number of ways including at the beginning of a resident meeting, social activity or meal. 

1) Choose 1 or 2 questions from the list.

2) After introductions, encourage everyone to find a person they have not spoken to in the last couple of weeks, go up to them and say hello, introduce yourself by saying your name and where you live and ask each other the question you have provided them.

3) Give everyone a few minutes before you tell them another question to ask.

You will be amazed at how introducing conversation starters into your gatherings will significantly increase the level of laughter, depth of friendships and quality of neighbourliness in your community.  When the depth of relationships increases, so does the psychological sense of community, which lays the foundation for lots of other great metrics in your retirement community that make it a great place to live. 

How to get people talking in a community app

If you have a digital community app in your retirement community you can also use the conversation starters in your digital communications. It’s a great way to engage your residents and you end up with this rich list of responses that residents can use to learn about each other and refer back to at other times. Just imagine residents standing around at Friday afternoon drinks and they can start up a conversation with someone who happened to share a similar answer to one of the questions, or laughed or was inspired by the responses. You can do this really easily in the Pluss Communities app.

1) Choose a conversation starter from the list.

2) Create a new news post.

3) Put the question into the heading of a news post. 

4) Share your own personal answer to that question in the body of the news post and invite residents to share their answers as a comment to the news post.

Conversation starter questions

1) What’s one thing you would want the community to know about you?

2) What do you like about living in the community?

3) What makes you smile?

4) If someone were to surprise you to make your day special, what would you do for the day?

5) What’s the best gift you have ever received and why?

6) What’s your favourite place to eat?

7) What’s the most uncomfortable night's sleep you have had and why?

8) What’s your most memorable holiday?

9) What makes you laugh really hard?

10) What’s your favourite holiday destination?

11) What was your first job?

12) If you could be anyone for a day who would you choose and why?

13) What was your favourite thing to do at home as a child?

14) What advice do you give to the grandkids?

15) What’s your favourite saying?

16) Where did you live when you were a teenager?

17) What was the best job you ever had?

18) In your career what did you love to do the most?

19) If you were to pick a dress up theme for a party what would you choose?

20) What’s your favourite drink?

21) If you could have a drink with someone living or dead, who would you choose?

22) What world event had the most impact on your life?

23) What was the car you liked the most that you owned and why?

24) If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

25) What’s your top 5 movies?  Give us at least one.

26) What’s one thing in your life you wish you could repeat?

27) If you could wave a magic wand, what would you fix about your past?

28) What was your favourite room as a child?

29) Who was your best friend as a teenager and what made them special?

30) Who was the best boss you ever had and what made them so great?

31) What is on your bucket list?

32) What have you ticked off your bucket list?

33) What personality trait do you admire in others?

34) What would you want to do in the next 24 hours if the world was about to end?

35) What tv shows would you recommend to others and why?

36) Who has inspired you in your life and why?

37) Who has inspired you in your life and why?

38) What do you think about the current state of affairs?

39) How would you describe yourself?

40) Do you have any hobbies?

41) What’s your favorite thing to do?

42) What did you want to be when you grew up?

43) What’s the worst job you ever had?

44) What was your first car?

45) What’s something you’ve always wanted to try?

46) What’s been your biggest accomplishment?

47) What’s one thing you wish people knew about you?

48) What’s a secret talent you have?

49) Do you have any hobbies and what are they?

50) Tell us about your favourite pet?

51) What kind of music do you listen to?

52) Who was your first love?

53) What’s the best thing about being retired?

54) What’s something you would change if you could go back in time?

55) If you were stranded on a desert island what three things would you want to have with you?

We will add to this list over time. Please share your own ideas with us if you have them.