I've been thinking about it because it's not some kind of strategy I worked out, just me remembering (I'm not very good at that) what has happened seemingly naturally. I'm not sure what sort of situation you're imagining but I don't usually have the chance to talk to a total stranger and go from there to the juicy bits. Usually it's at work. Maybe there are a couple of people talking in the smoking area, and in that situation especially, it's easy to join the conversation and nudge toward things like the underlying reasons/motivations of something, and probe at the personality and so on. Even if it's just one coworker I hadn't really talked to much before, we might start talking about an issue one of us was working on, and once that exchange is comfortable then we can move from Facts and Happenings to Principles and Theories holding them up, and so on. I'm not saying we get really really personal from a cold start, but I find that it's not hard to get past small talk. Anyway, you asked for examples and I'm not really giving any, but I think I'll just have to watch the conversations I have and see if I can bring back examples. Making it up or remembering it is escaping me at the moment.