<p>How do you feel when you see this photo? </p>
<p><img src="http://gtf.org/yef/sunset-blocked.png" /></p>
<p>It's uncomfortable and unsatisfying, right? There's a glaring hole in the middle of it. Your mind wants to fill the hole, and it can probably do a pretty good job guessing, but it would be a lot better if you could just see the whole thing! </p>
<p>You can do the same thing in conversation with the <strong>Open Loop Statement</strong>. </p>
<p>An open loop statement is one where you leave out some critical information so that the other person feels <em>compelled</em> to ask you about it. It's like showing them the picture above. They want to know what's inside the hole.</p>
<p>Here are some examples:</p>
<p><em>"The movie was great! It's probably my second-favorite movie of the summer."</em></p>
<p><em>"People here are a lot friendlier than where I'm from."</em></p>
<p><em>"The flight was delayed, but it was nothing compared to the time I got stranded and had to rent a car with 3 strangers."</em></p>
<p>In each case, the other person is wondering: </p>
<p>What was your favorite movie? </p>
<p>Where are you from? </p>
<p>Wow, tell me that story! </p>
<p>And all of a sudden, you get to fill in the gap and say something interesting, filling in the gap. So you get to fill in the whole picture...and to complete the analogy: </p>
<p><img src="http://gtf.org/yef/sunset.jpg" /></p>
<p>Now isn't that a lot better? </p>
<p>-geoff</p>
hiveblocks