Phone Tactics

1. Avoid just going "yes, no, uh-huh, bye." Instead, picture a friend on the other line of the phone, and make up a conversation in your head. For instance, picture your friend going: "So, how did [insert event here] go?" and answer.

2. Change your facial expression occasionally. It will look like you are actually "hearing" something.

3. Try to add in some actions and movements, so it seems that you're really talking and trying to explain/express something to the "opposite side."

4. Don't forget to pause. This is important. You would stop talking and listen when your friend is really talking to you on the phone, wouldn't you? Try to fill your pauses by making up your friends response in your head. This will ensure that your pauses are long enough to be believable.

5.Try to remember an earlier conversation you had with a friend. Then, reenact it. Imagine your friend saying what he/she said earlier, and come up with a response.

6. You might want to turn on your ringtone and/or record a pre-made conversation earlier. You can also listen to some of your voicemails and react to them as if they are a real life conversation.

Tips:

* When you are pretending to talk to your friend, pretend to talk about something you actually do or are familiar with.
* If you are having this "phone conversation" in front of someone, don't keep glancing at them.
* Relax. You probably aren't tense when really chatting with a friend, so why should you be tense now?
* If you can fluently speak a foreign language, that's even better. Make sure you still talk about normal things, on the off-chance someone around you speaks the language.
* Give some hand movements as if you trying to explain something. Don't look at anyone to see if they looking at you or not.
* Pretending to be interrupted can be a great asset to your phone-pretending antics. Saying "Yeah, I know but you- I know just listen for a second we-" will help convince people that you're actually talking to someone.
* Don't dial an actual number or have the "conversation" when the number you dialed goes (as expected) to someone else's voice mail. The person who hears this one way conversation in their voice mail could very well come out and expose the ruse you created landing you in, possibly, more trouble then if you were caught faking in the middle of you one way conversation.

-from Wikihow.com, "How To Pretend You Are Talking On The Phone," 11.27.11