charm everyone's socks off

This will really help me professionally as well as socially. While the Howard Roark stereotype does apply to a few, personableness is a big asset in my line o’ work.
Now is a good time to start on improving my small talk, as I could go to three-plus work-related, holiday season-y functions a week if I were so inclined. Perhaps I should, just to practice talking to the stuffed suits (plus, free food!).

I have a double hurdle for this goal. First is the the obvious: that I don’t know what to say. I do feel hindered by my ignorance of current events (which I should really do something about), but I usually just try to get people to talk about themselves, and this works for the most part.
The second hurdle is that I have to feel “on” to do this, and I rarely do. I can force the “on”ness, but it ain’t easy.

... this has been on my list for ages and I haven’t really done anything about it. This is 1 part conceit (that people’s socks will be charmed off just by me being me), 1 part apathy, and 2 parts self-doubt (what if I only manage to charm their shoes off?).
But the buck stops here (what does that mean, anyway?). As of today.