I also like to ask people: "What would you like to do once you know how to program?" That tends to filter out the people who want to do it for the money, and leaves the folks who have some curiosity.

I like trying to help people figure out a problem that they can solve, in their own life, by writing a little software. Reformatting spreadsheets is a perennially good choice. Every office worker can use that.

Beyond this - I like referring people to Peter Norvig's essay, "Learn Programming in Ten Years".