Matt Abrahams
Matt Abrahams is a renowned communication expert, with decades of teaching, coaching, and consulting experience. At Stanford University, he teaches a business school class on strategic communication. Beyond academia, he’s a sought-after keynote speaker and consultant, guiding presenters from IPO road shows to prestigious platforms like TED, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations. His acclaimed podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart, garners millions of listeners, and his book, Think Faster, Talk Smarter, equips speakers with practical skills for impromptu success. With a previous bestseller, Speaking Up Without Freaking Out, Matt has empowered countless individuals to speak confidently and authentically.
Career (separate track) Skills
Small talk is most effective when you lower the pressure of being interesting and focus on being genuinely present.
"Strive for connection over perfection by daring to be dull. 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 real..."
Detailed mental visualization of an entire speaking event can desensitize the brain to anxiety and provide a greater sense of agency.
"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 stag..."
Effectively communicating on the spot requires proactive preparation and the use of frameworks to manage cognitive load.
"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 and practice."
Handling Q&A successfully depends on minimizing self-evaluation to focus your full cognitive bandwidth on the information requested.
"Strive for connection over perfection by daring to be dull. Just answer the question. By doing that, you dial down the volume of self-evaluation, freeing up resources that can be used to really help y..."
Team & Organization Skills
Constructive feedback is most impactful when the speaker prioritizes the core message and the needs of the recipient over their own self-judgment.
"Strive for connection over perfection by daring to be dull. Just give the feedback. By doing that, you dial down the volume of self-evaluation, freeing up resources that can be used to really help you..."