The moment you hint at the end in your presentation, your audience checks out. Immediately.
In this Ask Matt Anything episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, recorded live by host Matt Abrahams inside the Think Fast, Talk Smart Learning Community, the focus was on how to fix the final thirty seconds of your meetings and presentations.
Community members then jumped in with their own questions - from what to say while a QR code sits on screen, to how to break a nervous loop of repeating the same sentence, to the frequently dreaded topic of making small talk when work topics are your only comfort zone.
In this episode, Matt answers:
• How to end any meeting or presentation smoothly
• How to fill the silence while people scan your QR code or follow your call to action
• How to stop repeating yourself mid-sentence
• How to engage an audience in four ways
• How to get comfortable with small talk
• How to handle expressing emotions at work without sounding overly emotional
A QR code, a nervous loop, a break-room mixer, a flash of anger in a meeting- Matt handles each one by giving it a job to do before it can take over. And once you see it, the pattern gets hard to unsee.
Want Matt's eyes on your communication challenge? Join the Learning Community at fastersmarter.io/learning and bring it to the next Ask Matt Anything.
About Matt Abrahams:
Matt Abrahams is one of the most recognized voices in communication today. He teaches Organizational Behavior at Stanford GSB and hosts the award-winning Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast. His work has taken him to TED, the World Economic Forum, and the UN Secretary-General's office, helping some of the world's most high-stakes presenters find their footing. His talks have racked up millions of views online, and his two bestselling books - Think Faster, Talk Smarter and Speaking Up without Freaking Out - have become go-to guides for anyone looking to communicate with more confidence and less panic.
Key Quotes
• "The way people feel at the end of an experience colors the way they see that entire experience." - Matt Abrahams (01:05)
• "A goal has three parts: information, emotion, and action. What do you want the audience to know? How do you want them to feel? And what do you want them to do?" - Matt Abrahams (02:20)
• "When I teach, I never say, "Today we're going to cover three topics." I say, "Today we're going to answer three questions." - Matt Abrahams (10:12)
• "Small talk requires big work, but it has big payoffs as well." - Matt Abrahams (13:06)
• "When you name an emotion, you actually give yourself a little bit of space between your experience of the emotion and the emotion itself." - Matt Abrahams (15:52)
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:53 Land the Plane Smoothly
03:12 Pavlov's Dogs Know This
03:36 End It With a Story
04:35 What To Say While They Scan
06:45 Don't (Nervously) Repeat Yourself
08:56 Four Paints on the Palette
12:08 When Work Talk Runs Out
15:23 Name It to Tame It
17:20 Conclusion
Relevant Links:
Think Fast Talk Smart Website: https://www.fastersmarter.io/
Think Fast Talk Smart Learning Community: https://www.fastersmarter.io/learning
Episode References:
Think Fast Talk Smart Back Catalog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l1QFlbk8O8&list=PL6caGRBUYZCmgDGM2RK6mxKB9jG_ccmm3
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Matt Abrahams on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maabrahams//maabrahams)