re: Conversationalism

A great conversationalist is one who is a good listener, and who becomes genuinely interested in other people and what they have to say. Convoluted describes one who complicates things to impress, because they are really ignorant, or simply because they are just not very good at building upon a story or idea in much the same way they would in writing a paper to build upon something and convey a message or idea. It’s much better to be plain and easy to follow, regardless of the company they are addressing, than complicated and bloviating. However, the best conversationalist IMO is one who does more listening and is interested in other people than one who talks incessantly about themselves and their own interests.