This is a great article, but I don't notice the "awkward silences" aspect of turn-taking to be as much of a problem as <i>interruption</i> and <i>waiting to say something</i>.<p>That is, as soon as you get an idea you immediately begin plotting to share it with everyone, and you either blurt it out or you stop listening until you get a chance to talk (thereby causing you to say things that don't seem to fit in the conversation or make it seem like you aren't keeping up)<p>Not yielding the floor when appropriate is definitely a problem too, but doesn't always result in awkward silences.