so

"So" is a word with a lot of different uses. It's basically a way to mark the beginning of a conversation or a change in the topic. People often start a sentence with "so", especially when asking questions like in the example above. Other examples of "so" include:

So how've you been?

So Claire, what do you do?

What's the story?

This is a question for use in casual conversation between friends or with work colleagues that you know well. It means "What's going to happen?" or "What is the plan?" You can use this phrase when you're dealing with groups of people, and you want to figure out where to go and what to do.