In 1997, a psychologist proved that questions make people closer - Are you still talking about the weather?
Arthur Aron's Fast Friends Procedure gave strangers 36 questions and 45 minutes. By the end, they reported feeling closer to each other than to most people in their lives. One pair from the original study later married.
The mechanism is straightforward: mutual, escalating self-disclosure. Both people move into slightly deeper territory at the same pace. It works because it's reciprocal, not because it's intense.
Small talk doesn't fail because it's shallow. It fails because it goes nowhere. Medium Talk is a way to go deeper, without drowning in emotion.
I hate to rain on your parade but:
Weather, commute details, and even weekend plans — are not topics that create connection.
The Medium Talk Ticker runs on the same logic as Aron’s study. Three sets, building in depth, all of it suitable for a room full of colleagues who have just met.
Set 1
"What's something you were obsessed with as a kid that you'd still defend today?"
Set 2
"What's a moment in your career that changed how you think about yourself?"
Set 3
"What belief did you hold ten years ago that you've completely let go of?"
Use one question before a meeting or run a full set in a workshop.
Either way, people leave knowing something real about the person next to them.
That's the whole idea.
Source: Aron, A., Melinat, E., Aron, E. N., Vallone, R. D., & Bator, R. J. (1997). The experimental generation of interpersonal closeness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(4), 363–377.