Speak Confidently In Any Room With Matt Abrahams

Most of us like to come prepared when we’re asked to give a speech — no matter the size of the room or audience. But sometimes when we want to say something important, we don’t have time to prepare at all!  So, how can we make sure the ideas we’re hoping to express come across confidently everywhere from a one-on-one huddle, to a packed auditorium? Matt Abrahams is an expert on sounding confident when speaking on the fly, and he’s the author of the number one best-selling book: “Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot.” 

On this week’s HerMoney Podcast, Abrahams shares his best advice on how to become better speakers (and listeners!) in any situation. Particularly at work, being able to speak confidently on the fly is especially important, because so many of us have big goals we want to accomplish — and we want to be seen as a leader of people and projects. Yet recent research from Gallup found that less than half of today’s employees feel confident they can reach the highest level they wish to at their jobs… in other words, many of us don’t feel capable of grabbing the mic and asserting ourselves when necessary. 

Matt Abrahams shares how we can make sure the ideas we’re hoping to express come across confidently in any situation. The first thing we need to remember is there’s no “right way” to communicate. “There are better ways and worse ways but if we can relieve ourselves of that pressure of trying to do it right, we will actually end up doing it better,” he says.

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Abrahams offers a helpful structure for saying exactly what we mean when speaking on the fly… He says to take a beat and ask ourselves these three questions before we speak: What? So What? and Now What?  

“The ‘what’ is my idea. It could be my product, my service, or my position on an issue. The ‘so what’ is why is it important and relevant to you. And then the ‘now what’ is what comes next,” he says. “By simply answering those three questions, it positions me well to package my information.” 

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Matt understands that a deep-rooted fear of public speaking is something that lives in many of us, but thankfully “there are things we can do to help ourselves feel more confident and more importantly, appear more confident for the audiences we present to.”

In Mailbag, we hear from a listener who is wondering if Roth 401(k)s make sense as a high-income earner, and we chat with a woman who needs an executor to handle her estate. For our money tip of the week, is raising the deductible on your homeowner’s insurance the right move?

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• How She Does It Podcast Episode 18: Growing Your Career Beyond The Glass Ceiling
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