On Monday 3rd February 2025 PropelHer’s Book Club discussed Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot by Matt Abrahams .

In this summary of Think Faster, Talk Smarter by Matt Abrahams. I’ll be briefly summarising the book to help you to make a decision about whether you should buy a copy of the book for yourself.

Think Faster, Talk Smarter consists of an Introduction, Part I. Part II and Epilogue. 

In the Introduction Matt sets the scene. He shares how having a surname beginning with A meant he was often called on first to speak. Then whilst at Stanford he created the workshop Think Fast, Talk Smart: Effective Speaking in Spontaneous and Stressful Situations, and that workshop forms the basis of what is inside of this book. 

Part I consists of six chapters. There is one chapter for each of six steps that Matt thinks are essential for better spontaneous speaking. Those six steps can be summarised as:

Calm

Unlock

Redefine

Listen

Structure

Focus

Through Part I of the book Matt explains each step and provides examples. There are also lots of tasks to complete. It quickly becomes clear in the book that preparation is key 

In Part II now that you’ve got an understanding of the key steps it’s time to focus being able to apply what you’ve learnt to specific, common, situations. The situations that are focused on are:

Small Talk

Toasts

Pitching

Q&A

Giving Feedback

Apologising

Each situation has a dedicated chapter and for each chapter there will be recommendations about what structure to follow, as well as some top tips to help you excel in that speaking situation. 

Then in the Epilogue Matt reminds us that the key to being great at spontaneous speaking is to be prepared and that it takes practice. Therefore it\s time to take what you’ve read and start using it in the real world. 

That’s it! You now have an idea about what you can expect to find inside of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot by Matt Abrahams.

Like the sound of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot by Matt Abrahams. Why not buy a copy of the book and have a read?

Buy Think Faster, Talk Smarter on Amazon

Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot by Matt Abrahams was read as part of PropelHer’s Book Club. PropelHer’s Book Club is an online non-fiction book club for ambitious women that meet monthly. Every month PropelHer’s Book Club reads a different book to help ambitious women concentrate on their personal development and professional success. You can see what else we have read so far here. If you would like to join PropelHer’s Book Club you can find full details here.

Enjoying reading the book? Don’t forget to share your book pictures! Tag @charellegriffith