Matt Abrahams: "How to Make Your Communication Memorable"
Summary of "Matt Abrahams: How to Make Your Communication Memorable"
Short Summary:
Matt Abrahams discusses how to make communication memorable, both for the speaker and the audience. He emphasizes the importance of preparation, including personal hygiene, goal setting, and practice. He also highlights the use of structure, variation, relevance, and emotion to engage the audience and ensure they remember the message. Abrahams provides specific tools and techniques, such as the "what so what now what" structure, vocal warm-ups, and the use of back-pocket questions to handle blanking out. He also encourages the use of technology and emphasizes the importance of tailoring messages to the audience's knowledge, expectations, and attitudes.
Detailed Summary:
1. Introduction and Personal Hygiene:
- Abrahams introduces the topic of memorable communication and acknowledges the common fear of forgetting what to say or having the audience forget the message.
- He emphasizes the importance of personal hygiene, including eating well, exercising, and getting enough sleep, as these factors contribute to memory and confidence.
- He advises against consuming caffeine before delivering a presentation but suggests using it during preparation.
- He also mentions the use of technology for preparation, including apps and tools to improve vocal intensity, reduce disfluencies, and practice in virtual environments.
2. Goal Setting and Structure:
- Abrahams emphasizes the importance of starting with a clear goal for communication, which should include information, emotion, and action.
- He suggests using structures like comparison/contrast/conclusion, problem/solution/benefit, and his favorite, "what so what now what," to organize content and help the audience follow the message.
- He demonstrates the "what so what now what" structure by explaining it using the same structure.
- He encourages participants to practice using these structures.
3. Practice and Handling Blanking Out:
- Abrahams emphasizes the importance of practice, suggesting standing up and speaking out loud, warming up the voice, and chunking information into smaller parts.
- He recommends practicing in the actual venue where the presentation will take place to improve recall.
- He provides two techniques for handling blanking out: repeating what was just said and using a back-pocket question to buy time and regain focus.
4. Audience Engagement and Memorability:
- Abrahams shifts focus to audience engagement and memorability, highlighting the use of variation, relevance, and emotion.
- He emphasizes the importance of vocal variation to keep the audience engaged and suggests using emotive words to enhance vocal emphasis.
- He encourages the use of diverse evidence, including data, testimonies, and stories, to support points and cater to different learning styles.
- He also emphasizes the importance of visual variety and avoiding excessive bullet points.
5. Tailoring Messages and Engaging the Audience:
- Abrahams stresses the importance of tailoring messages to the audience's knowledge, expectations, and attitudes.
- He suggests adjusting the structure of the message based on audience receptiveness, such as starting with benefits for a hesitant audience.
- He emphasizes the importance of physical and mental engagement, suggesting activities like posing questions, showing videos, and using analogies to make the content more memorable.
6. Leveraging Emotion and Conclusion:
- Abrahams emphasizes the power of emotion in communication and suggests finding ways to infuse emotion into the message, even when discussing seemingly unemotional topics.
- He encourages speakers to bring their own emotions to the presentation and practice conveying excitement to make the message more engaging.
- He concludes by emphasizing the importance of repetition, reflection, and feedback for continuous improvement in communication.
- He encourages the use of resources like his website "No Freaking Speaking" and Stanford Continuing Studies to further develop communication skills.
- He ends by reminding the audience that everyone has important ideas and stories to share and that making them memorable is crucial for effective communication.