I think small talk is literally important thing for most of people all over the world.
This may seem like trivial thing ,but we should pay close attention to small talk.
Core thing in a company such as big conference and reception is not created without small talk. we can chill out and stay clam while talking about like silly and ridiculous topic/
Hence you need a couple of time for small talk fist then turn it into serious topic you actually want to discuss gradually.
Don`t think little of that.
All of us should be careful about small talk.