Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You Are Put on the Spot
Matt Abrahams
Simon Element/An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. (September 2023)

How to have high-impact in both formal presentations and informal conversations

Most people fear public speaking more than they fear death. Even a during a casual conversation, many of them have little (if anything) to share other than a comment about the weather or costs of living.  Matt Abrahams has written a book that can help almost anyone to “think faster” and “talk smarter” than they do now.

He challenges conventional wisdom, providing counterintuitive techniques to help you navigate all kinds oƒ tricky, in-the-moment communbiucation tasks. “To make the material more memorable, I’ll highlight all kinds of tricky tactics to try out (I label these ‘Try It’) and exercises that allow us to practice key techniques in more depth (‘Drill It’).”

Some of Abrahams’ most valuable material is provided when — in Part I — he explains a six-step process by which to initiate and then sustain continuous improvement of communication skills. The overall objective is to become a high-impact communicator, whatever and wherever an audience and circumstances may be. He devotes a separate chapter to each step. Here they are:

1. Tame the Anxiety Beast: “With a bit of effort, we can manage our spontaneous speaking anxiety so that it does not manage us.”
2. Mediocracy: “When it comes to spontaneous speaking, good enough is great.”
3. Mind Your Mindset: “You can take back control when put on the spot. It’s all about how you see it.”
4. Don’t Just Do Something…Stand There!: “Sometimes the best way to communicate is to say nothing at all.”
5. Structure Your Anxiety: “When you’re speaking spontaneously, having a road map doesn’t bog you down. It frees you up.”
6. The F-Word of Spontaneous Speaking: “Don’t make it hard for your audience to ‘get’ your point. Focus their attention on what matters most.”

With regard to the last point, keep in mind that you are his audience when he explains HOW specifically to complete each of the six steps of the process in Part I and then six applications when talking smarter in specific situations.

In Part II, Abrahams addresses some of the most common contexts in which you may be called upon to express yourself in the moment. “I’ll explore specific  techniques for navigating common communication challenges , such as giving feedback effectively and shining in interview situations. I’ll describe strategies I have used when preparing entrepreneurs to effectively pitch ideas and opportunities to others; to engage in successful small talk; to give impromptu toasts, tributes, ands introductions that audiences will love; and even to apologize in ways that resonate powerfully. I have included a summary of these structures in the first appendix.”

Keep in mind that effective listening skills are at least as important as speaking skills. Also keep in mind that, during a face-to-face interaction, about 80% of the impact (for better or worse) is determined by body language and tone of voice; only 20% is determined by what is actually said. During a voice-to-voice interaction, tone of voice and pauses have much greater impact (for better or worse) than does what is said. In one oƒ his classic works, Rhetoric (4th century BCE), Aristotle discusses what he identifies as the four levels of discourse: Exposition (explain with information), Description (make vivid with compelling details), Narration (tell a story or explain a sequence), and Argumentation (convince with evidence and/or logic). Use the acronym EDNA to keep them in mind.

Almost all of Matt Abrahams’ rock-solid suggestions can help to strengthen the skills you need to communicate effectively on one or more of these four levels, especially when discussing a very important issue, question or problem.

Abrahams provides a QR code in the second appendix “that will take you to a dedicated Think Faster, Talk Smarter website that I will update often with new materials and videos discussing and demonstrating concepts from the book and offering new ones.”

Here are two concluding suggestions to consider while you are reading Think Faster, Talk Smarter: Highlight key passages, and, record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), and page references as well as your responses to and to lessons you have learned throughout the narrative. Complete with care and candor the “Try It” exercises inserted strategically throughout the narrative and to “Drill It” exercises at the conclusion of Chapters 1-6 . These simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.