#102—Matt Abrahams: Optimizing Your Strategic Communication Toolkit

Oct 13, 2023

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In this episode, Matt Abrahams, leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach shares some of his top insights into strategic communication. He gives us a holistic explanation of what effective communication is, as well as dives into practical daily tips and techniques you can use in any conversation.

As a Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, he teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. He received Stanford GSB’s Alumni Teaching Award in recognition of his teaching students around the world. When he isn’t teaching,

Matt is a sought-after keynote speaker and communication consultant. He has helped countless presenters improve and hone their communication, including some who have delivered IPO road shows as well as TED, World Economic Forum, and Nobel Prize presentations. His online talks garner millions of views and he hosts the popular, award-winning podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast. He is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot. His previous book Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting has helped thousands of people manage speaking anxiety and present more confidently and authentically.

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In this episode, he shares:

How to craft a careful, concise, audience-centric conversation in any scenario (which, bonus, it reframes the conversation to take the pressure off of you, reducing your anxiety)
The importance of narrowing your important points to the essentials, while putting the right structure around your conversation to make a conversation, not a presentation
Practical, yet easy to implement tactics from his book that can transform your communication into being poignant and powerful

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:13—Introducing Matt + The topic of today’s episode

3:01—If you really know me, you know that...

4:27—What is your definition of strategy?

5:53—Can you give us your developed theory on communication?

7:56—Could we talk about Step 2, "structures"?

9:56—Can you explain improv (improvisational) speaking, and its benefits in business speaking?

12:04—Can you give us some improv-based tactics that can help us navigate unexpected disruptions during our presentation, speech, etc.?

14:15—Can you elaborate on your tactic of "chunking"?

15:22—What can you tell us about the idea that "communication is the thinking"?

17:22—How do you see AI changing communication as a communication strategist?

19:37—Talk us about your ideas around calendar invites...

21:19—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.c

Thank you to our guests, thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. I'm your host, Kaihan Krippendorff. Thank you for listening.

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