The poet and author of the upcoming novel A Beautiful Lack Of Consequence has picked up a few surprising (and hilarious) ways to get a read on a room at literary events and public speaking occasions. Radojevic has found that the weirder you get with new people, the easier it is to have interesting and engaging conversations.

“Who in this room do you think you’d be able to take in a fight?” – When meeting new people, I try to gauge what level of weird they’re willing to get to because I love a deep, slightly personal conversation with a stranger. If they’re unfazed by weirdness, I will ask them who in the room they think they’d be able to take in a fight and why. It’s a bit morbid, I know.

The art of good chat: 10 experts on the interesting and surprising ways to strike up a conversation