144 Chapter nine Conversation Participating; reactive and proactive The managing of conversations was covered extensively in The Conversation Manager. 112 In short, the methodology of the conversa- tion manager is as follows: he or she observes conversations as a manager, facilitates conversations as a brand and participates in con- versations as himself or herself. These are the three steps for manag- ing conversations, which each require a very different approach if success is to be achieved. In this chapter, we will be focusing on par- ticipation in conversations.