50. Telling Good Stories: How to Use the Elements of Narrative to Keep Listeners Engaged

02/02/22 • 19 min

2 Listeners

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

“Make them want to turn the page,” says Paula Moya, a professor at Stanford University and author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Moya sits down with strategic communication lecturer Matt Abrahams to share how the elements of story can be used in other types of communication. Create compelling situations, full of sense and surprise, she says. Create characters we can empathize with; speak your written sentences aloud, and, Moya advises, think of the images your words may conjure up and how they may be interpreted by different audiences.

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Matt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn

“Make them want to turn the page,” says Paula Moya, a professor at Stanford University and author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.

Connect:

Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium
Email Questions & Feedback >>> [email protected]
Episode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart Website
Newsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.io
Think Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube
Matt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn

Previous Episode

49. Make Numbers Count: How to Communicate Data Effectively

“We have to make data emotional because emotions are what drive us to act,” says Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behavior and author of the new book, Making Numbers Count: The Art of Science of Communicating Numbers. In this interview with host Matt Abrahams, Heath talks about ways that data and statistics can be used to illuminate — or obscure — our message. “A lot of people in the world don’t understand numbers like the numbers people,” he says. “And there are a lot of untranslated numbers that float around in organizations and in society.”

Heath suggests thinking about numbers like a foreign language we need to “translate” for our audience: “If we don’t translate numbers into something that’s more tangible, we’re going to sacrifice in a big way.“

Connect:

Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium
Email Questions & Feedback >>> [email protected]
Episode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart Website
Newsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.io
Think Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube
Matt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn

Next Episode

51. We Asked, You Answered: Celebrating our 50th Episode with your Anxiety Management Plans

In this 50th episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams and executive producer Jenny Luna share the winners' plans from our Confident Communicator Challenge and offer new, research-backed techniques for managing nervousness both before and during your communication. Thank you to many, many listeners from all over the world who sent in their anxiety management plans.

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