Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

Matt Abrahams is a lecturer of strategic communication at Stanford GSB and the host of the award-winning podcast "Think Fast, Talk Smart," a show with research-backed techniques becoming a more confident communicator.

Communication is critical to success in business and in life. Concerned about an upcoming interview? Anxious about speaking up during a meeting? In this talk, and through the podcast, you will learn techniques that will help you speak with greater confidence and clarity.

This video was recorded on October 25, 2014, in collaboration with the Stanford Alumni Association as part of Stanford Reunion Homecoming and the Graduate School of Business Fall Reunion/Alumni Weekend.

[gaszpla]

He Never uses "um", "well", "ah", "hmm" for 50mins. Incredible....

[yousefkotp]

Here's the notes I took, hope they are beneficial
1. Have Anxiety under control
1. Greeting Anxiety
- Greet Anxiety, say hello to it, it's normal and natural, Take a deep breathe
- Anxiety helps us, we just want to manage it
2. Reframing it as a conversation
- Use conversational language (Inclusive language)
- start with questions in your presentation
- reframe presentation as conversation with audience
- presenting isn't performing
3. Be in the present moment
- bring yourself to present not the future
- Be present Oriented
- Walk out a building before talk
- count number by back

Audience should be comfortable

2. Ground Rules

- Get yourself out of your own way, don't be perfectionist
- See things as an opportunity not a threat
- Improvise
- Dare to be dull
- "Yes and .. " make it always on your tongue

3. Slow down and listen

- You should be in service of your audience

4. We have to tell a story

- Never lose audience, you can hook them by a story
- you have two structure :
1. Problem → Solution → Benefits
2. What → So what ? (Why) → Now what

-Structure sets you free

[sanjitbasu]

I am watching in 2024. Anyone here likewise.

[Nawabbaloch_]

Remind me iff you're watching this video in 2024

[Bitter_Biscuit]

Notes, general ideas, and summary:
Agenda of being an effective speaker regardless of it's being planned or spontaneous, depends on:
1. Anxiety management.
2. Ground rules.
3. Speaking spontaneously.

- Anxiety management
85% of people are nervous when they speak in public. Anxiety isn't inherently a bad thing it can help you focus. However, excessive anxiety could impair our ability to speak spontaneously.

The techniques used in anxiety management:

- When anxiety symptoms kick in few minutes before public speaking (as in gurgly stomach, shaking limbs, etc.), just be mindful about them, acknowledge them and don't resist them "We simply greet our anxiety and say hey" Take a deep breath and don't let anxiety spiral out of control.
- Re-framing public speaking as a conversation and not a performance. There is no "right" or "wrong" way of presenting (although there are certainly better or worse ways). there are multiple ways to make it as a conversation like:
- Start with questions: they are dialogic in nature. They could be rhetorical, polling, or simply asking for information.
- Using conversational language. Using an inclusive language and not distance the audience from ourselves and the speech, in addition to having a relaxed body language.
- Be present oriented. Don't think about the far future. This in turn will clear your mind and make you less nervous. There are some ways of becoming present in the moment such as doing pushups, walking, listening to music, tongue twisters (they can help in warming up the voice as an added benefit) or it could be anything that brings the attention and use some cognitive resources.


- Ground rules for being comfortable in speaking in spontaneous situations

- Get out of your own way. Dare to be dull. Don't worry about being perfect or doing stuff flawlessly. Improvise, don't stockpile information, let your brain act spontaneously. Train the skill of improvisation. Because aiming at greatness could be in your way due to over evaluation, and over analyzation which leads to freezing up.
- See things as opportunities and not as challenges or threats. Make it a conversation and don't make it an adversarial situation. Make it an opportunity to clarify and explain what's in your head, and understand what people are thinking. Take a "Yes, and.." approach instead of "No, but..".
- Slow down and listen. "You need to understand the demands of the requirement you find yourself in, in order to respond appropriately". Don't jump to conclusions without gathering enough information. So, slow down and listen to understand and be in touch with the receiver to fulfill your obligation as a communicator. "Don't just do something, stand there."
- Tell a story. Respond in a structured way. Having a structure is key to having a successful spontaneous, and planned speaking. It increases processing fluency which is how effective we process information. We process and retain structured information 40% more reliably and accurately than non-structured ones. For example to memorize a string of 10 numbers we structure them into 3, 3, and 4 numbers. Structure helps us Remember.

A couple of useful structures:
- The "Problem > Solution > Benefit" Structure. You firstly start talking about what is the problem, then talk about a way/ways to solve the problem, and finally, talk about the benefit of solving it. Never lose your audience. Set expectations and provide a structure to keep the listener on track, and this structure helps with that. Could be re-framed as "Opportunity > Solution [steps to achieve it] > Benefit"
- The "What? So what? Now what?" structure. Start firstly by talking about what the problem/idea is, why is it important, and then what the next steps are. This is a good formula for answering questions, and introducing people [Who they are? Why are they important? And what to do next with them (listening, drinking, etc..)]. In a spontaneous speaking situation we have to think about two things simultaneously; Figure out what to say and how to say it.
Practicing these structures is a key skill for effective spontaneous thinking. "Structure sets you free."

Sorry if there are any grammatical or spelling errors. I'm not a native English speaker.
Edit: Spelling.

[jaideepsingh]

I have studying to do. So I'm procrastinating productively by watching this video.

[ktpqnlg]

I was brushing my teeth and this video popped up on my feed. Instantly, I recognized Matt’s face right away.. he was my speech professor in 2007! So happy to see him here all of these many years later!! Good memories came back right away cause he was one of the best teachers!

[nishat_zaman]

"If you are striving for greatness, dare to be dull" Amazing advice!

[florancetominiko]

Notes
7:58 manage anxiety - acknowledge your anxiety
9:22 reframe as a conversation, not as a performance.
9:52 ask questions -gets audience involved, frames a conversation.
10:12 note, should be questions -so you can answer, this is more helpful to remember
10:29 use conversational language -includes audience and can help manage anxiety
12:13 Be present-oriented -helps manage anxiety, helps bring you to the present
16:42 Get out of your own way -stop thinking you need to get it right -you over analyze, you over evaluate, all this can make you freeze up
24:41 make your challenging situations into opportunities -your approach affects the situation
32:51 co-create and share -helps feel less nervous and defensive -these traits can help you accomplish
33:32 slow down and listen -you need to fully understand the speaker in order to communicate
38:35 Don't just do something, stand there -listen and then respond
39:35 - 42:54 structures -structures in speaking helps you process information more effectively

[panchajanya]

He is very confident, calm and knows exactly what he is doing. He has the pulse of the audience. Even as an online audience, I found it very interactive.

[LucasClearly]

Dare to be dull.
I think this was speaking to me.
I often find myself stuck trying to give the very best but end up not doing it at all.

Thank you Matt Abraham, I'll allow myself to make mistakes and correct them as fast as I can.

[luiskirilovich]

It's a trail of an excellent teacher to able to express ideas and concepts in a clear and concise manner. Mr. Abrahams is, definitely, one of the best couch you can find on the Internet on this touched nerve topic.

[antoniomichael.]

Every family👨‍👩‍👦 has that one person who will break the family financial struggle, I hope you become the one🤝

[sanabhabie]

First time in my whole life watching a video with 58min without getting bored even a second!!

[jonathanchang]

I actually took the class he is referring to. It was a 12-week class held at the Stanford campus, a few hours a week. This is one of those "self improvement" classes that had a huge impact for me. It really helped me with public speaking inhibitions and freed myself to just speak and be in the moment. Highly recommended.

[HungNguyen-lvlg]

It's so rare to find a person with such exceptional EQ. His voice alone exudes such openness and joviality that I could not but relate. My heart is pounding right now.

[carminedimaro]

Who's here learning to be a human after Covid

[emjain]

What I learned from this talk
1) anxiety is very natural and don’t let anxiety overtake you . Learn to manage it. I personally use deep breathing and meditation to overcome anxiety .
2) Be inclusive in your communication.
3) First become a good listener by being focused
4) Treat every speaking occasion as an opportunity not as a challenge
5) Remove No- But with Yes -And attitude
6) public speaking should be like an inclusive conversation not as a performance.
7) Your body language counts a lot .
8) structured communication- problem -solution - benefit OR what -so what - now what

[hlsxbqo]

i saw this lecture and now i realised (again) how important Drama/ Theater lessons were to me. It changed me so much, mu communications and freedom of expression changed a lot.
I really hope to get back to it one day, and well, i hope more people have the same oportunities. Its a new world of undertanding art, comunications and people.

[vinitasharma]

"What I have learned from this video is that listening is the key to being a good speaker. We should greet anxiety. If we get the opportunity to talk, just speak (get out of your own way) without worrying about whether you are right or wrong. Everyone gets anxious; it's normal. Speak confidently. Always use structured conversations when conveying the message. Thanks for the video."