Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

Memorable communication isn’t about saying more—it’s making the right idea stick. 

No matter how compelling a presentation feels in the moment, most of what you say won’t last in your audience’s memory. The key isn’t trying to make people remember everything — it’s ensuring they remember what matters most.

Carmen Simon is a cognitive neuroscientist, author, and expert on how the brain pays attention and forms memories. Her research explores how communication can move beyond passive listening and become an experience the brain actually holds onto. “The way we come to know the world is through the interaction of brain, body, and environment,” she explains. “The more you invite your audiences to interact with anything, especially physically, the more you impact cognition.”

In this Quick Thinks episode of Think Fast Talk Smart, Simon and host Matt Abrahams explore practical, research-backed ways to make communication more memorable. They discuss why handwriting notes can deepen understanding, how curiosity and tension capture attention, and why communicators should avoid overwhelming audiences with too much information. Instead, Simon encourages speakers to structure ideas so audiences can recognize patterns and return to a clear core message.

Episode Reference Links:
Connect:

Chapters:

  • (00:00) - Introduction
  • (02:16) - Embodied Cognition Explained
  • (04:29) - The Impact of Environment on Attention
  • (05:53) - Sparking Curiosity in Your Audience
  • (10:09) - Avoiding Cognitive Overload
  • (15:12) - Using Visuals to Improve Recall
  • (19:07) - Conclusion

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Creators and Guests

Host
Matt Abrahams
Lecturer Stanford University Graduate School of Business | Think Fast Talk Smart podcast host
Guest
Carmen Simon
Cognitive Neuroscientist | Author | Speaker

What is Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques?

One of the most essential ingredients to success in business and life is effective communication.

Join Matt Abrahams, best-selling author and Strategic Communication lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, as he interviews experts to provide actionable insights that help you communicate with clarity, confidence, and impact. From handling impromptu questions to crafting compelling messages, Matt explores practical strategies for real-world communication challenges.

Whether you’re navigating a high-stakes presentation, perfecting your email tone, or speaking off the cuff, Think Fast, Talk Smart equips you with the tools, techniques, and best practices to express yourself effectively in any situation. Enhance your communication skills to elevate your career and build stronger professional relationships.

Tune in every Tuesday for new episodes. Subscribe now to unlock your potential as a thoughtful, impactful communicator. Learn more and sign up for our eNewsletter at fastersmarter.io.

Matt Abrahams: We need to leverage
the way our brains learn and focus to

help make our messages more memorable.

My name is Matt Abrahams and I
teach Strategic Communication at

Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Welcome to this Quick Thinks episode
of Think Fast Talk Smart, the podcast.

My interview with neuroscientist Carmen
Simon was truly insightful and helpful.

Carmen provided so many tips and
tools that we simply could not fit

all of her wisdom into one episode.

So fasten your seat belts and
get ready to learn more ways to

make your messages unforgettable.

Your work distinguishes between
active and passive experiences.

Do you have any communication guidance
for a leader who wants to turn a routine,

often boring experience, like a team
meeting or an all hands training of

some sort, into an experience that's
more active and engaging and memorable,

so that people will collaborate more,
buy in more, and remember it more?

Carmen Simon: Yes, I like all
those phrases that you are using

and one of the hottest trends in
neuroscience is embodied cognition.

The reason it's one of the hottest trends
is because recognizing that the way we

come to know the world, perceive it and
eventually build memories and eventually

build decisions, is not by building
some abstract mental representations.

Yeah, sure, we do that, but
we come to know the world that

the intersection of brain body
interacting with the environments.

Embodied cognition.

So the more you invite your audiences
to interact with anything, and

especially physically, then you
are already impacting cognition.

So how can that happen in real life?

Some companies are lucky where
they have an experiential center.

You can invite people in your offices.

Even this experience right now is
memorable because we could have done

this very easily, virtually, but now we
are in a studio surrounded by excellent

people and their skills and equipment.

Now, more of our senses are involved.

We can kick it down a notch
because not everybody has

access to these kinds of spaces.

One thing that I was able to show in a
neuroscience study I conducted was the

difference between what happens when
somebody views a presentation passively

versus when they're asked to type notes
as they're listening to the speaker versus

when they're asked to hand write notes.

So of course, that third condition people
in that performed better in terms of

attention and subsequent memory, because
now think about how much is involved

when you hand write, your fingers
are in it, the entire hand is in it.

Your entire arm, your neck, your
shoulders, you're contributing to this.

Besides when you're handwriting versus
typing, you are synthesizing things

a little bit more versus when you're
typing, by the way, you're typing more

verbatim what the other person says.

So the processing is not so deep.

So that could be the most benign way in
which we engage the brain and the body

is simply asking people to take notes,
tell your audience, this is worthwhile.

This will serve you well.

Write this down.

Matt Abrahams: So getting people
to do something where they're

connecting their physical experience
with their mental experience helps.

So a technique I often recommend
that people do is to put people

in a physical place mentally.

So I use descriptive language, so
the room is dark, it's cold outside.

Is there a similar effect when it's not
actually physical, but you're getting

people to envision some physicality?

Carmen Simon: It's a good proxy.

So in addition to the vision of
it all, can you apply some motion.

Like when you said, yeah, it was a
dark room and he kicked a wall in it.

Now you have the vision plus some
movement that is happening, or the

air was circulating so much that her
hair became curlier in the moment.

You see now there is some
action, involve some movement.

The brain has evolved to
pay attention to movement.

Lately, even spaces have evolved.

Like for instance, I participated in a
conference and it was held in a castle.

So sometimes the environment in
itself contributes to making the

experience a little extra special.

Another one that I just presented
at recently was in a monastery.

I've heard of events being held on a boat.

I've heard of business meetings
happening in something that otherwise

wouldn't have been considered your
typical and predictable boardroom.

So one of the reasons they're extra
special is because, remember, it's brain

body interacting with the environment.

So the environment itself is
unpredictable, you increase the

chances of attention and memory.

Matt Abrahams: Super cool.

So if you really want to help your
audience, it's not just thinking about

your message and what you ask them to do.

The space in which you
do it can have impact.

I want to turn to two things that are
very important in storytelling, and I'm

curious to get your perspective on how
they help us with attention and memory.

The value of intrigue and curiosity.

These are tools that
get people to lean in.

What are your thoughts on those and
do you have some research and specific

advice on how we can leverage those?

Carmen Simon: It's an interesting
dimension, especially that

of getting the brain curious.

And not an easy one to reach because
are you noticing that some people are

so jaded where whatever you show them
is like, eh, another one of those.

So this is why I am glad that you have
the wonderful listeners that you're

talking about because we need people
like them to try a little bit harder

to instigate and get the brain to
be just a little bit extra excited.

Obviously, you often rely
on intrinsic motivation.

Like some people come to your content
and they're intrinsically motivated to

listen, and they're curious about things.

When they may not, then you
have the responsibility, can you

create some tension in the brain?

What I'm noticing in my research time
and time again is that as we calculate

emotions, and from a neuroscience
perspective, we have two variables

that are instrumental to emotion.

What are they?

Valence, which is how much the
brain enjoys an experience.

It could be positive or negative.

And arousal meaning how alert and awake
people are during that experience.

So picture this as quadrants now.

So you have valence on a horizontal axis,
you have arousal on a vertical axis.

At these quadrants, you have these
intersections of you're really

amped up and you like something,
and now you're alert, like it

cannot possibly be nonchalant.

Matt Abrahams: What immediately
popped into my mind is listening

to a comedian tell jokes.

Carmen Simon: So a good standup comedian
doesn't necessarily let you relax lower.

Right now you can relax a little
bit more, maybe like reading a

book lower left that's negative
valence, but you're not upset.

So as you're thinking about these
quadrants, know this lower left

negative valence and low arousal.

That's where boredom settles in,
and that's where memories go to die.

Some people might think that, oh, should
always have things that are positive.

Either that they amp you up
or they keep you more relaxed,

but positive nonetheless.

But that's not what I'm observing.

Quite often attention and memory
are created at the intersection of

negative valence and high arousal.

Now I'm feeling it.

I'm a little anxious about this.

There is tension and quite often that
tension can provoke some curiosity,

which is what you're asking about.

So I remember we were doing a presentation
about cybersecurity, and this vendor

was saying, if you use us, we'll help
you manage information, technology

and OT, operational technology.

And in the presentation they were saying,
if in IT some of your systems get hacked,

data gets stolen, there's a breach.

People lose their jobs.

OT if a physical object gets
hacked, people can lose their lives

because if you hack an oil rig for
instance, people can really die.

So we are just getting like really
deep into this and even the slides

are turning dark and you could see
like a little cross with a little

bit of blood dripping off of it.

Now you can like physically
see this lean in motion.

The brain is motivated to
keep on going a little bit.

So from a neuroscience perspective, I
think I would equate this dimension of

motivation and leaning into a system
versus withdrawing as a sign of curiosity.

Now tell me a little bit more.

I'm willing to stay with you
for the next moment over until

you get me to that lower left.

You're always just a click away for
lower left, but a bit of tension

and friction can help you there.

Matt Abrahams: So as we think about
the stories we tell, the examples

we use, the testimonials we provide,
we should actually, I think,

almost map them on your two by two
matrix and see where do they fit.

And as long as they are arousing in some
way, and the valence isn't as important

and we can think about how we can drop
those in and I assume we can't have too

many back to back of all the same kind.

'Cause it can become almost overwhelming.

Carmen Simon: It's true.

It can become overwhelming and you
don't want people to be staying in

that upper left for too long because
then it is just really draining.

But a combination of the three,
so upper left, upper right, and

lower right, those are really good.

Every so often the brain will go
into a slight state of boredom.

We can't claim that all of a sudden just
everything is going to be an epiphany.

Matt Abrahams: You argue that
we often overdeliver on content,

which creates cognitive overload.

What are the key communication habits
a person should break to reduce the

load they put on their audience and
ensure that their core message is

not only received, but understood?

So we say more than we
need to it sounds like.

Carmen Simon: Sometimes we say more than
we need to, and it's an intriguing concept

to me because here's the good news for
everybody, especially as the world is

getting more complex, the brain actually
synchronizes better with that which

is complex than that which is simple.

Where does complexity
and overload come in?

It's not really complexity
that gets us in trouble.

It's randomness.

So really when we talk about overload,
we're talking about some random bits and

pieces that people go on, in and out,
in and out, in and out without enabling

somebody else's brain to see some patterns
to see how all of these, as difficult as

they may be, components come together.

So one practical technique, especially if
we have technical people who like to geek

out for a moment, is related to fractals.

So for those of you who may wonder what
are fractals, there are these objects

or even parts of our bodies have those
properties, objects that have the same

properties at any level of magnification.

So for instance, if you picture a
tree, you have the trunk, you have

the branches, and if you go to the
smallest of the smallest of the

branch, that low branch has the same
properties as the entire big tree.

Or if you go to the grocery store,
you see a head of cauliflower.

The entire head of cauliflower is
composed of these tiny baby heads of

cauliflower, and those baby heads have
the same properties as the entire head.

So it's cauliflower all the way down.

So as a practical technique, think
about all your content, anything

that you want to share with an
audience, and as complex or seemingly

overloading as it may be, wonder what
are just some core sets of properties?

That's where would your 10% message
to come in as well, so that your

entire content is being perceived
as cauliflower all the way down.

Because if you have this core that never
changes, then you can elaborate and

you can add stories, and you can add
details, you can add your analogies, all

of those beautiful things you mentioned.

But you won't feel overwhelming because
you're coming back to the same core.

You're coming back to the
same short set of rules.

Matt Abrahams: So have a clear through
line that you can connect things to

rather than, that's why when people
go off on tangents, it can be so

frustrating and difficult to stay focused.

So we have to have a clear goal, clear
direction, help our audience see the

patterns of the things we're saying.

Carmen Simon: See the patterns,
and just come back home.

So when we say control your 10%, come
back to that 10% message every so

often to say, yeah, we went over here
and we went over here, we over here.

But overall, everything just condenses
down to this one handful of things.

Matt Abrahams: One of the other things
that strikes me that 90% does is even

though you might not remember the
content, you might remember the feeling.

And so even if I only remember 10% of
what you say, I might leave saying,

she was really on her game and
competent, and that can help me as well.

Carmen Simon: The strong emotions will
definitely help in a competitive space.

Challenge yourself to combine
emotion with some verbatim phrases.

You cannot afford to only operate
on emotions as some, just because

other companies will also have
their messages and their emotions.

So ideally it's your combination
that makes it through.

Matt Abrahams: I have seen your books.

I've seen your book covers.

I've seen presentations that you've done.

Visuals play very strongly in what you do.

Can you give us some best practices
and advice when using visuals to

help with memory and engagement?

Carmen Simon: Yes.

That is one of my favorite
topics to talk about because with

neuroscience we can debunk some myths.

And I'm sure you've heard this
many times before, same for our

listeners, that some people are visual
learners, some people are auditory

learners, some are kinesthetic.

I hope nobody ever repeats those
sentences ever again because

primarily we are the visual beings.

60 to 70% of our body receptors,
which is how we take in the world,

and we start perceiving things
and building memories are visual.

We have visual people.

Assuming of course, you're
visually able, even when you're

not, you're still seeing inwards.

You have to take care of your visuals.

You can do them by showing people
some pictures or by doing what you

were recommending earlier, which I
really like, enabling the brain to see

inwards, like building mental images.

So don't put so much pressure on
yourselves, like suddenly you have

to come up with some amazing graphics
and you don't have a graphics degree.

If you do have some sort of
inclination towards the images, what

I'm doing a lot of research on is
cliché images and cliché phrases.

I'm noticing that the brain, especially
the global brain, I did a study on this,

has some comfort with the written cliché.

So for instance, if you say phrases
like such and such is a game changer,

or this is a win-win situation, or
data-driven, anything these days,

I was noticing that as I included
people from the us, people from Asia,

people from Europe, we have a certain
amount of comfort with a cliché, it's

almost like it's a universal language.

People come home.

It's like, I got it.

As long as you don't overdo it.

The clichés in that study, there are
only 5% of the entire communication.

However, the global brain doesn't
have any energy for cliché images.

And what are those?

You wanna take a guess what's the
most cliché image in business content?

Matt Abrahams: The first thing
that came to mind was like

a sun rising or something.

Carmen Simon: You're not far.

So the mountain, climbing
mountains, and especially

usually at a sunrise or a sunset.

And I have to say this, by the way, I
was listening to this incredible keynote

speaker and he was a mountaineer,
and he said, visualizing business

success by showing a business person
on top of the mountain is like

the worst thing that you can do.

Not only is it cliché, but most
accidents in mountaineering happen

when you go down the mountain.

So just to show that you've made it
there at the top, you have made at

the top, you make it when you come
back down to the bottom unscathed.

That's success.

So removing the technicalities.

Then if we talk about visuals, then we
have to ask, how is it that we avoid the

clichés, the mountain of it all, and the
chess strategies and the iceberg metaphor.

So here what we did something with the
iceberg metaphor, because I was reflecting

on that and I was thinking, you know, the
iceberg metaphor has a good story in it.

It tells us that at the top you
see something small, but really

what's important is underneath it.

So I was challenging our designers
to say, how would you visualize

there is more to the story.

So we had three versions
in that presentation.

One was you're seeing what would appear
as a sharkfin on top of the water, but

then when you really zoom in under the
water, it is just a regular goldfish.

And the other one, we were showing
a person climbing a mountain that

looks like it's covered in snow.

Then on click, the whole thing
rises, and that's actually

the top of an ice cream cone.

So because now you didn't expect that,
you see there's more to the story and that

unexpected piece was a little bit unusual.

Or you take any kind of stone structure,
let's just say Stonehenge, and on click,

you raise it up and you see a few aliens
right underneath there in the dirt.

There's more to the story.

Depends on where you wanna take it.

But see, you can challenge
yourself to say, look at a

familiar visual and play off of it.

Jolt the brain out of its habituation.

Matt Abrahams: So visuals play in a
very important role, and there are

things we can do through visuals to
stimulate interest and attention.

Well, there you have it.

Tips, tools and techniques to make your
messages more memorable and engaging.

I challenge everyone to apply
Carmen's insights and advice

into your upcoming communication.

Thank you for joining us for this
Quick Thinks episode of Think

Fast Talk Smart, the podcast.

This episode was produced by Katherine
Reed, Ryan Campos, and me, Matt Abrahams.

Our music is from Floyd Wonder.

With thanks to Podium Podcast Company.

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