Idle conversation, typically on innocuous or unimportant subjects, usually engaged in at social gatherings out of politeness
Yet for so public a figure, Jackson was socially awkward, inept at small talk and terrified when the distant audience became an adoring mob.
Small talk is polite conversation about unimportant things that people make at social occasions. Smiling for the cameras, the two men strained to make small talk. Casual or trivial conversation. polite friendly conversation about unimportant subjects