How to speak more confidently and persuasively | Matt Abrahams (professor, podcast host, author, speaker)

**Matt Abrahams** (0:00)
Visualization is a really useful technique, and you see yourself not just in the moment of speaking, but getting up to the stage, seeing it being well received, thinking about how you step off the stage. We see athletes do this kind of thing all the time, and there's good research to say that this desensitizes people.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:16)
Most of the public speaking we do is on the spot. It's not often you give a prepared talk.

**Matt Abrahams** (0:20)
You actually have to prepare to be spontaneous, and that's counterintuitive. But when you think about it in athletics or jazz music, it's like, of course you would prepare.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:28)
Are there any other techniques that you love, that you find people find really helpful in calming their anxiety?

**Matt Abrahams** (0:34)
Strive for connection over perfection. By daring to be dull, just answer the question, just give the feedback, just be engaged in the small talk. By doing that, you dial down the volume of self-evaluation, freeing up resources that can be used to really help you succeed.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:54)
Today my guest is Matt Abrahams. Matt is a professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, where he teaches a very popular class on communication and public speaking. He's also the host of the incredibly popular podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart, and the author of the very popular book, Think Faster and Talk Smarter. Matt also coaches people one-on-one on public speaking and communication skills. And in our conversation, we focus on the two areas that people most need help with. One, reducing their anxiety before and during any form of public speaking, and getting better at speaking on the spot, including giving better toasts, giving feedback, doing Q&A, and even apologizing. Like we talk about in the actual conversation, speaking well is a superpower in your career, for interviewing, for being great in meetings, for pitching your manager and ideas, to leading teams. And the skill becomes even more important as you grow in your career. The good news is that you can get better at it with a bit of help. I've worked on this a lot over the course of my career, and I still get really nervous before big talks, and even before every podcast episode. But many of these techniques I actually put into practice, and I share that in our conversation. If you pick just a couple things from this episode to put into practice, you will become a better communicator, you'll be less nervous, and you'll get better at dealing with on the spot moments. If you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. It's the best way to avoid missing future episodes, and it helps the podcast tremendously. With that, I bring you Matt Abrahams after a short word from our sponsors.
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