Really good advice so far. This topic is actually one of the things I've been working on recently. I would have to say that you keep conversations going by doing two things:
1. Listening
2. Finding similarities/differences between you and the other person.
First, just listen to what they have to say, and while they are talking look for things that you two have in common or have different views on. Trying to talk about something you know nothing about is really hard, you'll just end up asking questions the whole time and it'll turn into an interview. For example, say the person mentions they just came back from vacationing at the beach. Even if you've never went to the beach, tell them that (this goes back to the thinking out loud thing), explain why you never went, and maybe the places that you did go. Pretty lame example I know, but you get the jist.
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