Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

• We 'll make sure to get this to you so you can torment your friends and family at a later date. when I first was exposed to this over 12 years ago. I only found three, and I felt really stupid. the vast majority of us in this room were not as effective as we could have been in this activity. and the same is true when it comes to speaking in public, particularly when spontaneous speaking. in order to be an effective communicator, regardless of whether it 's planned or spontaneous, you need to have your anxiety under control. 85% of people tell us that they 're nervous when speaking in public. and I think the other 15 % are lying. we could create a situation where we could make them nervous too. public speaking is a ubiquitous fear that I believe we can learn to manage. anxiety actually. helps us. it gives us energy, helps us focus and tells us what we 're doing is important. so I 'd like to introduce you to a few techniques that can work and all of these techniques are based on academic research..

• Research on mindful attention tells us that when we begin to feel those anxiety symptoms, we simply greet our anxiety and say hey, this is me feeling nervous. I 'm about to do something of consequence. and simply by greeting your anxiety and acknowledging it, that it 's normal and natural. use questions to make it feel to me as the presenter as if we 're in conversation. other useful technique for making us conversational is to use conversational language. many nervous speakers distance themselves physically. Phil Zimbardo of the Stanford prison experiment fame studied with Phil Zimardo of Stanford Prison experiment fame. if you can bring yourself into the present moment, rather than being worried about the future consequences, you can actually be less nervous. there are lots of ways to become present oriented. my favorite way to get presentoriented is to say tongue twisters. saying. Tongue twisters. saying a tongue twister forces you to be in the moment and warm up your voice..

• It 's very possible for us to manage our anxiety. we can do it initially by greeting the anxiety. When we begin to feel those signs. reframe the situation as a conversation. and we do it when we become present oriented. if you have questions about other ways, I 'm happy to chat with you. at the end of the show, I'll point you to some resources that you can refer to. most of us in this room are type a personalities. we work hard, we think fast and make sure that we get things right. but that can actually serve as a disservice as we try to speak in the moment. i 'd like to demonstrate a little of this for you. I want you to point to things and you are going to call the things you are pointing to, out loud, anything but what they really are.. We 're gon na play this game twice. again, it 's for 30 seconds. if you are willing and able, will you please stand up. you can do this seated, by the way. but if you 're able, let's stand up. and I would like for you to point at anything around here, including me. it 's okay to point. at me. but point at different things, and loudly and proudly call them different than what they are. ready. begin.