The Art of Public Speaking

Intro

PALOMA: We’ve all experienced it: one speaker keeps us hanging on every word, while another loses us completely. In this episode, we’ll break down how to be the one who captivates.

Hey, my name is Paloma Chiara, a life coach based in Spain. On this podcast, I share coaching insights and practical tips designed to inspire your personal growth.

Today I will be speaking with Amit Grinwald, a public speaking coach who challenges the way we think about formality. In this conversation we’ll uncover the truths most people overlook about speaking, the emotional barriers that hold us back, and why letting go of stiff traditional styles might be the key to becoming a powerful communicator.

Let’s dive in.

The Art of Public Speaking

PALOMA: Hello Amit, would you like to present yourself?

AMIT: Sure, thanks for having me on. So yeah, my name is Amit. I’m a public speaking coach and communication trainer. I work with leaders and teams to bring elements of connection and storytelling into the world of professional communication.

I am also a TEDx organizer. I started a TEDx event back in Prague when I was a student 10 years ago, and we’ve still been organizing it ever since. Over the last 10 years, it has become one of the biggest events in Central Europe.

A lot of the style of communication that I bring into my coaching and training relates to that TED style of communication that has become so well known and respected in the professional world. It’s about bringing those same elements into the world of professional communication.

PALOMA: So what’s the first thing that you do when a client comes in, and what steps do you go through after?

AMIT: It normally really starts with listening rather than teaching. I think that’s really important. A lot of people would expect me to jump in with techniques and tips right away, but the first session I normally have with clients is what I call story mining. I want to really hear about their experiences, the work they’ve done, the challenges they’ve overcome.

We sometimes go back to childhood memories and look at how that’s affected the way they lead today. The purpose is really to tie those stories to their message so they’re not just delivering information, but becoming the right messenger to do that.

If you think about AI, for example, everyone is talking about it right now. But what makes a speaker worth listening to isn’t that they’re saying something about AI—it’s that they’re the only person who can tell this story in this specific way. And without having a really deep understanding of their own stories, I can’t help them position themselves as that right messenger. So that’s something we normally work on at the very beginning.

I think a lot of my clients have become really good friends of mine, and I think part of it is because we get to know each other very well from that first interaction.

PALOMA: So for example, if a client tells you something from their past, how would you relate that to the way they communicate now? Like what’s an example of that?

AMIT: So I recently worked with a leader, a senior vice president at a very big company—I won’t name which one, just to keep it anonymous. We went back to a story of when he was 11 years old, an experience he had as part of a theater performance at school.

That experience now ties to the notion of human-centric leadership, which is something that he does a lot of work in and speaks about quite a lot. Going back to really understand his state of mind when he was 11 years old, and how that has impacted his leadership style all those decades later, is one example of why it’s important to go so far back.

He is the only one who can relate that specific experience to the message of leadership, which makes him the only person able to deliver that message in his own way.

PALOMA: When a client comes in and has difficulties with good communication, what are usually the most common issues?

AMIT: A lot of times the first thing we tackle is confidence, because that’s what stops people from communicating in the first place—the fear of public speaking or the anxiety that a lot of us feel. We have to get to the root of that and tackle it first. Once we’re over that hurdle, we can really focus on the actual mechanics of storytelling and communication.

PALOMA: If they have confidence issues, what do you usually say?

AMIT: So this is something that I’ve really reflected on, especially in the last two years, because it’s a challenge that so many people come with and I’ve, I tend to be quite practical and pragmatic in the way that I think and then also in the way that I coach, so I rely on frameworks and tools quite heavily to be able to provide some sort of structure and clarity to the sessions that we have.

So I’ve tried to really think about how can we tackle confidence, which is such an abstract topic or challenge in a really practical way. So I’ve developed this framework that works across four dimensions that allows me to kind of ask questions to diagnose where the root of the lack of confidence is. And then we work on that specific thing because different people, it like stems from different things.

If I’m working with an Olympic medalist, which I have, you know, his confidence isn’t going to be rooted in, you know, limiting beliefs because he already has that championship mentality. He’s, you know, he competed at the Olympics, he won a medal at the Olympics. So he knows that he can win, that he can be a champion. So for him, it was more about like the behaviors that were different in this instance. He’s trained his whole life to compete at a specific sport, but not to, give a presentation, so we had to tackle a lot of the behaviors and preparation rather than his thoughts and mindsets.

So that’s why I try to work across these four dimensions, which is our thinking, our behaviors, our knowing, so the inner sense og clarity that we have and our feeling and see where the challenges with confidence really stem.

PALOMA: Okay. And for example, what’s the hardest truth that you’ve had to tell a client about their speaking style?

AMIT: Honestly, one thing that comes to mind is telling them that their content was boring. That’s always really hard to hear. And it’s often not because they lack expertise, but because they’re trapped in it.

This especially happens with tech leaders. What’s obvious to them—because they’ve lived it for so many years and become such experts—can be really inaccessible to everyone else. They essentially forget what it’s like to not know what they know. This is called the “curse of knowledge.”

My job is to show them that, and to help them reframe their expertise so they communicate it in a way where the brilliance doesn’t get lost in translation. It might be shocking for them at first, because the information seems normal and interesting to them. But once they realize the issue isn’t them, it’s the audience they’re speaking to and how they’re packaging their ideas to fit that specific audience, then that allows us to get over the initial shock of hearing, “the way you’re presenting it is essentially boring.” It’s not to do with the information but how we’re packaging it.

PALOMA: Yeah, I guess you could say that any topic could be made interesting, right?

AMIT: Absolutely.

PALOMA: And would you say it’s more about the way you present it that makes it boring, or the actual content?

AMIT: It’s really about looking at the audience first—what is it that they need to hear, and what is their knowledge level relevant to the subject you’re talking about? What do you want them to know? It’s that gap between those two things that you need to fill. That’s where things are exciting and not boring, because you’re telling them something new in a way that’s still accessible to them. You’re teaching them something new, whether it’s technical or whether it’s anything else, but in a way that they can really like feel understand, and then take something and do something with it at the end of the presentation or the end of the conference. Or whatever the communication was.

PALOMA: What’s a truth about communication you believe that most people would disagree with?

AMIT: This reminds me of something I saw just last week. There’s this advice that I see quite a lot by some very well-known public speaking coaches, which is to avoid memorizing talks. So they say, never memorize because you’ll sound robotic, you’ll disconnect. You’ll have to think about what the next line is.

And honestly, they’re right, but they’re only right if you memorize badly. And I think that is something that needs to be quite clear, because bad memorization or shallow memorization is what makes you cling to the words like a lifeline. And that’s when you sound stiff and not present. And that’s where you disconnect and sound robotic.

But memorization itself isn’t a problem. Setting the goal of moving past shallow memorization into a point where you really internalize the content and you’re not worried about what comes next. And that’s not relevant for all context, but specifically for shorter talks like a TED-style talk. And I’ve worked with over 100 TEDx speakers at this point, and the best ones are the ones that script their talk and then memorize it word for word, because then they’re able to choose a language that’s really intentional, which is something that you can’t really do as well when you improvise.

One example that I can think of is Bethany Butzer, who’s someone I worked with earlier on actually, and she drilled her talk so well, and she really memorized the script word for word that every one of the last rehearsals was completely identical. But she said it in a very natural way, in a way that like connected with a lot of people who were in the audience were crying. She got a standing ovation. Her talk has now been viewed more than three million times on YouTube.

So the question isn’t really whether you should memorize or not. It’s when should you memorize and how much work you should put in if you decide to do it. You know, for business presentations, workshops, longer sessions, I don’t think memorization is realistic. But for TED-style talks or investor pitches or really high stakes, shorter situations, I think memorization really helps you get across whatever it is that you’re trying to communicate in a really intentional way.

So that’s one advice that I keep seeing. And I saw one very well-known public speaking coach post this advice of don’t memorize anything because it’s going to work against you. And that’s something that I personally disagree with based on my experience at least.

PALOMA: I see. So if someone already memorized everything, how can they move past that, past their stiffness?

AMIT: Like one test that I actually learned from someone that I worked with, which I didn’t know that she was doing this until after she gave her talk, is that she memorized her talk so well that she would try to then recite it when she was washing the dishes or like running on the treadmill at the gym.

At that point, that’s where you’ve really internalized it—you don’t need to think about what the next sentence is, what the next word is. So I think when you can do it without thinking about it, whether that’s testing yourself while doing something else, or just when you feel like you’re not looking for the next sentence, then that’s the point you really wanna get to.

And it takes a lot of work, and I think that’s what a lot of people underestimate. That’s why it’s easy advice to give—don’t memorize your talk—because it does make it easier for the person. But if they really care about the impact of it, for these shorter talks, I really do think it’s valuable and it’s definitely doable. I’ve seen people do it.

If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t see Shakespeare plays being put on. These people memorize hours’ worth of information. So to memorize a five, ten, fifteen-minute talk is not an impossibility, but it does take a lot of work.

PALOMA: Yeah, that makes sense. So talking about advice that you see on the internet, one that I’ve seen a lot in terms of communication is to film yourself or record yourself while doing the speech. What do you think of that? Do you agree?

AMIT: Yeah, I think it’s super useful. I think the one thing you shouldn’t do is practice in the mirror. That’s a totally different situation because then you can really nitpick on things live without kind of having an objectivity to it.

But I think recording yourself, not just audio, but also like in video, allows you to sit back and really look at it from the audience’s perspective, which is something that we don’t really get to do so much. Which is why, you know, when you think about how a lot of people hate the sound of their own voice, that’s because we don’t hear our voice the same way the people who we speak to hear.

PALOMA: Yeah, it sounds different in our head, yeah.

AMIT: Yeah, because our vibrations are different, but that’s only because we don’t really get a chance to do that. So the more we are exposed to it, the less we’re going to hate it when we then see the recording. So it can be quite a painful process at the beginning. People really hate watching themselves and listening to themselves, but it allows you to have a certain objectivity from an audience’s perspective and really see things that you might not notice otherwise.

So I definitely think it’s good advice and I definitely advise a lot of people to do it when they’re preparing for presentations.

PALOMA: Okay, and what about the mirror thing? Why wouldn’t you recommend that one?

AMIT: When you look in the mirror you see a reflection of yourself that isn’t the way that people see you. It’s actually like, you know, flipped horizontally or mirrored. And also there’s the live element to it — you’re making corrections as you go instead of taking the time to really look at it.

And I think that is a totally different situation than sitting back and looking at the video, being able to go back or to pause. There’s just a much more productive way to do that than to practice in the mirror.

PALOMA: Yeah, that makes sense. Also, I suppose you act a bit differently when you’re looking at yourself, right?

AMIT: Exactly. And you don’t get to do that when you’re actually presenting—unless you’re in some weird room with mirrors everywhere.

PALOMA: Exactly. Okay, so moving on to the next question, I saw in another podcast that you talk a lot about being authentic. And so my question is, where would you draw the line between being authentic and being inappropriate?

AMIT: Yeah, that’s a really good question and something that I actually get quite a lot, especially by kind of leaders in more like senior positions. I think authenticity is really about being real and bringing yourself while also respecting the context. I think a lot of people confuse authenticity with oversharing or saying whatever comes to your mind.

But I think true authenticity in communication is about showing up as yourself and sharing stories that make you the only person who can share them, as we mentioned at the beginning, in a way that helps the audience really connect to you and your message. I think the line gets crossed when being authentic takes focus away from the message and makes the audience uncomfortable.

So for me, that’s kind of the simple filter: does this story or detail build connection and trust, or does it distract from the message? If it builds connection, the authenticity is there and it’s warranted. If it distracts people or makes them uncomfortable for no purpose—because sometimes making people uncomfortable is a good thing to do—then it’s inappropriate.

So I think that’s really the line. Authenticity is about connection, and I think being inappropriate is about distraction. So it’s the connection versus distraction that makes the two different.

PALOMA: I see. So what if someone isn’t very aware of this, like doesn’t have the self-awareness? Is there some kind of advice they can follow, or do they have to ask people around them to see if their message is inappropriate or not?

AMIT: Yes, that’s when I think having someone to help you prep, whether that’s a coach or whether it’s just someone trusted in your circle, can really help out. It helps bring in an unbiased third-person perspective into the situation. That’s why at the very beginning I said the first session I normally do with clients is story mining—really getting to know them, a lot of their personal experiences, professional experiences.

Because then we can pick and choose different stories that connect to whatever message they’re focusing on for the specific presentation or specific communication that they’re preparing for, and look at how this helps. You know, this particular story helps connect the audience to the message that we’re providing.

So I think having someone outside of yourself—whether that’s a coach, a friend, your partner, a trusted colleague—can help if you’re unsure about whether you’re crossing the line into inappropriate or distracting.

PALOMA: So what do you think people are really afraid of when they choose not to be authentic and more formal in their communication?

AMIT: I think it’s really authority. I think there is this ingrained belief that if you loosen up, if you drop the formal tone, people won’t take you seriously. But in reality, I think formality often creates distance. And the interesting part for me is that I think that distance is then mistaken for authority, and this could be a cultural thing because some cultures have a more hierarchical perspective on things, especially in the professional world with levels of seniority.

But the leads people genuinely trust and follow aren’t the ones that are hiding behind stiff formality and overly formal language for no reason. They’re the ones that show up clearly with some level of relatability. So I like to challenge the idea that authority comes from distance, because I think it really more often comes from trust, and I think trust is always, if not at least, most often comes from connection. And clinging to formality doesn’t allow you to get that level of connection, to then build that trust, to then build that authority that’s based on trust.

PALOMA: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense and I was gonna say like a lot of the CEOs and other leaders that I see on the socials are usually pretty crazy. They don’t seem to be very formal.

AMIT: Exactly. And even if you think, because I think when you talk about formality, I think politicians are a really good example of where being formal is part of the job. But if you look at political figures that have connected with audiences in really effective ways—like Barack Obama is someone that comes to mind, Martin Luther King—they have all shared very personal stories in the way that they communicate and then tie it to what they’re trying to achieve.

So you can still be formal while sharing your authentic self. It’s just about not clinging to formality for the sake of hiding behind some wall in a way that doesn’t allow you to really connect with an audience and share a lot of your authentic self.

PALOMA: Yeah. And if you think if one day the whole world shifted to be entirely informal, do you think there’s anything that we would lose?

AMIT: Yeah, I think definitely. I think there are definitely contexts where being formal is necessary. But I think the nuance is that being informal and being authentic aren’t the same thing. You can be authentic and formal, and you can be informal but still inauthentic.

So I think context really matters. There are moments where formality adds a lot of weight. If you think about in courtrooms, a condolence speech, even a big corporate announcement or in politics, again, if we stripped away formality entirely, we would lose that sense of gravity and respect that’s important in these situations. But authenticity can still be expressed in any context.

Sometimes it means being passionate and energetic, other times it means being calm and more respectful, but authenticity can stay as a constant. The variable is whether the context calls for a more formal tone or a more informal tone. But I do think it’s still important in a lot of situations, so I’m not saying we should lose formality at all. My work just centers around how to not let that get in the way of connection.

PALOMA: What’s a question about communication no one ever asks you, but you wish they would?

AMIT: I think I wish a lot of speakers I work with, which is something that we always work towards, are just more other focused in asking something like what does my audience need to hear? I think the biggest mistake we make in communication is focusing on what we want to say rather than what our audience needs to hear.

So something I see is people obsessing about what they want to say, they prepare their slides, they polish their talking points, but it’s all from their perspective. And the real shift happens when you start asking, what does my audience actually need in order to understand, to engage, to take action. That one question, or any question that’s more audience centered rather than self-centered, I think changes everything really with communication.

PALOMA: And how do you know if it’s audience-centered or self-centered?

AMIT: I mean, as simple as what wording are we choosing. Is the speaker asking, how can I stand out, is this the right thing for me to say, rather than do you think the audience will connect with this? Are they focusing more on what it is that they want to share in their own experience, or are they focusing on in what way they can make that the best for the specific audience they’re talking to?

PALOMA: What’s something that usually you notice first that others completely miss when they speak?

AMIT: I mean, just chronologically speaking, it’s how they open. So many people start with something like, can everyone hear me okay, or the classic intro is, my name is X, and I’m here to talk to you about Y. To me, it’s such a missed opportunity, because it’s kind of like an action movie starting with the credits, you know. But if you look at an action movie, the first 30 seconds are crucial, that’s where you really get people leaning in and wanting to see what’s coming next.

And I think as a speaker, you have that same responsibility. So I’m looking at whether they dive straight into something engaging like a story, a question, a surprising fact, or whether they lose people right out of the gate. Because the truth is no one’s going to want to listen to you unless you give them a reason to. And that’s especially the case in big conferences where they have to listen to so many people. A lot of the times they’re there from work so it’s not like it’s their choice, so you really have a responsibility to get their attention from the beginning. And that opening tells me immediately whether they’re going to hold that attention or whether they’re going to struggle with it throughout the rest of the presentation.

PALOMA: What would you say makes a good opening?

AMIT: Anything that provides stakes, so anything that’s going to make them want to listen to you. And honestly, it’s quite easy as long as you don’t do what everyone else is doing, which is the, you know, my name is Amit and I’m here to talk to you about communication, which is how 99% of speakers start their talks. Then you’re already different than the rest of them. So you’ve already done something that’s going to get some attention.

But I think anything, again, like a story, an interesting question, a surprising fact that’s going to make them lean in from the beginning and be like, okay, this person has something interesting to say, or I want to know what’s going to happen at the end, or how they’re going to get to the end.

When you think of romantic comedies, rom-coms, we always know what the ending is going to be. You know at the beginning, the two characters hate each other, by the end, they’re in love. It’s like every movie is the same, but we still love watching those films because we want to see the transformation. Yeah. So that’s what you need to tease, something is coming, and that’s just in the strategic choices that you make, and that starts at the very first second.

PALOMA: So it’s sort of like a hook, right? Like, is it the same, do you also call it like that?

AMIT: Yeah, I mean, exactly, call it what it is, the purpose is the same. You want to know that from the beginning you hook them, you make them want to listen to what you have to say. And that’s why I often use a movie analogy, because movies have to do that so well. We have so many choices, we’re going to sit there for two hours, what is it about the very beginning that makes us want to stay for the rest of the movie?

So I think as presenters or communicators, we need to treat it the same way. We’re like producers of that experience for the audience, so in what way can we make it the best that it can be.

PALOMA: So if someone wanted to start with a question, how would they be able to do that without sounding too much like an ad?

AMIT: So actually recently I worked with a tech leader — the CTO of one of the biggest tech companies in the world — and she was preparing for a presentation just a few weeks ago. Actually, I had a call with her even yesterday for another presentation.

She was speaking to a tech audience and she started her presentation with asking the question, it was something about like, what if the future of technology doesn’t rely on the way we build the technology, but the way that we change our behavior?

And that in itself was kind of surprising, especially for a tech audience, because a lot of the time they’re going to hear about the tech. So for the tech leader of one of the biggest tech companies to say, let’s not talk about the tech, but talk about our behavior as humans first — that in itself is surprising to an audience like that. So that is likely to get them to lean in and be like, okay, this is very different than the way the rest of the people here are speaking, and this is kind of surprising coming from a CTO of a tech company.

PALOMA: Yeah, no, that’s good advice. It makes sense to think more about what the person is feeling and less about just the technicisms.

AMIT: Yeah, and like what is going to be surprising to them? So in this case, it was a tech audience. So in what way can we talk about technology, but in a different way? Because there’s going to be a lot of people in that conference that are talking about technology in a similar way, that are focusing about the technology itself. So from the beginning, shifting it away from that and into human behavior is surprising in itself, so it’s just an interesting way to open.

PALOMA: So what if someone was not willing to let go of being very traditional and having stiff communication? Do you think they can still be a good communicator?

AMIT: Yeah, I think so. I think they can. They can be… well, they can be competent, they can be well respected, but I don’t think they’ll be magnetic. Because I think really magnetic communication isn’t about just transferring information, which anyone can do if they’re highly skilled, but it’s about creating that connection — that magic that happens when a speaker really connects with an audience.

And if they insist on staying really stiff and traditional, they can be clear, but I don’t think they’ll ever have that spark that makes people lean in and remember them. So I do think they can be great communicators, but I don’t think they’ll be those magnetic communicators that people go back home and tell their partner or flatmate or whoever about, or go into their Monday morning meeting the week after and tell their colleagues, “oh you know, I saw this really great speaker last week.”

PALOMA: And what role would you say ego plays in the way people speak in business contexts?

AMIT: Well, I mean, especially in this context, I think ego shows up all the time. I think it’s that urge to prove how smart you are, how impressive your title is, how much you know. The problem is that it’s important, but when you speak from ego alone, the audience can feel it. Again, it’s about you, not about them.

And I think — at least my belief system — is that great communication is other-focused, not self-focused. So that’s why I think it’s important for people to first define their audience and focus on them, and then tie that to how they can be the right messenger for that specific presentation or connection.

So I normally have people ask themselves three different questions to define their audience before a talk. And that’s: what do they want the audience to know? That’s the first one. The second one is what do they want them to feel as a result of the communication? And the third is what do they want them to do as a result of the communication?

So if they’re really clear about those three things, they can then bring in their expertise to tailor the message to that specific audience.

PALOMA: I see. And what if you have a client that’s very difficult in the sense that’s very ego-centered? How do you help them pass that?

AMIT: It really just comes down to understanding the audience. So I think when they, it’s about like making it really clear to them is that, you might know all of these things and you’re smart and you’re impressive and you’ve, you know, you have this title. But if the audience doesn’t feel your message, it’s just not going to land.

And at the end of the day, the, you know, the ultimate purpose might be the same might be to be, you know, I want to be one of the top three speakers at the conference. That might be, you know, an egoistic or self-centered goal, which is totally fine. But it’s about showing them that in order to do that, you first have to really understand the audience and speak to what they need to hear, and that’s going to get you there. So the goal might be different, but the way that you’re going to get there still always starts with the audience.

PALOMA: Would do you say that being a great communicator is a form of manipulation?

AMIT: That’s a really good question. I think being a really great communicator is about influence. And I think the line between influence and manipulation is thin because the tools can look identical, you know, like tone, stories, framing, the way you use your body language. I think the difference is really intent. If you’re using your skills to build trust, create clarity, help others make better decisions, that’s influence. But if your intent is purely self-serving at someone else’s expense, then you’re manipulating.

I think it is quite a thin line and it really just comes down to intent. Are you using these tools for clarity or connection or for self-serving control? If it’s for self-serving control, then maybe you’re just trying to be manipulative.

PALOMA: Yeah, that makes sense. Have you ever had a client that had that kind of intent?

AMIT: No, and I don’t think I would get there because it’s important for me and I think that’s like one of the best freedoms that I get to have in my work to work with really good people. So if I have that first introduction call or discovery call with a client, then I can tell that that’s what they’re trying to do, then it’s not someone I necessarily want to work with because my focus is on bringing elements of connection into communication and if you’re trying to manipulate and I’m not, you know, the right person.

If you’re trying to be more influential, then I’ll definitely help you get there. But again, if your intent is to, you know, just serve yourself at someone else’s expense, then I’m just not the right person to work with that specific individual.

PALOMA: Yeah, I mean, I think that if someone were to feel that way, it would be something that is very subconscious rather than something that they would say directly, right?

AMIT: Yeah, I’m trying to think, I don’t remember that ever coming up, but that question is something that I’ve gotten quite a lot in something that I try to kind of clarify especially when I, because this is less so when I work one-on-one but when I get invited to do trainings for teams, whether it’s sales teams or client-facing teams, one of the things that they want to work on is influence and or persuasion and persuasiveness.

And that’s where I kind of draw the line of, you know, this is how I’m going to help you have influence, but it really if it always starts with the audience, which is what I always focus on in communication, then manipulation isn’t going to be the ultimate goal. But I think influence is important. You know, storytelling has been shown to help speed decision-making by 40%. That is being persuasive, that is having influence, but it’s not at someone else’s expense.

PALOMA: Of course. And what is the usual kind of client that you have? Is it usually just leaders or any other person?

AMIT: Yeah, so I mainly work one-on-one with leaders. Most of them are in tech, so I work quite a lot with tech leaders, especially in the last year. So they get invited to speak at all these different conferences and they want to stand out as a leader and as a speaker. I also work with, you know, one-on-one with leaders who just want to work on like leadership development, so more communication within the organization to their teams, to their colleagues, to upper management. How to be more influential is like a big topic as we just discussed.

And then I also do trainings with teams, whether that’s how can they have better communication with clients, so a lot client-facing teams, or whether it’s about how can they communicate better with colleagues and other departments within the organization. Again, like IT, people in IT and in technical positions and teams are kind of notorious for, you know, maybe not being great communicators when they have to communicate with other departments. Marketing and IT often are two departments that don’t really get along.

So a lot of the trainings have been to work with technical teams in how can you communicate the data and the knowledge and the expertise in a way that’s going to connect with a non-technical audience. In this case, that audience is within the organization, whether the sales department, the marketing department, their management, or other non-technical colleagues.

PALOMA: What advice would you give to someone who wants to learn to become a better communicator but doesn’t necessarily have the funds to have a coach?

AMIT: There are plenty of free resources, first of all, so listen to podcasts, read books. I mean, books aren’t free, but it’s a small investment to make that are going to help provide the frameworks and tools to be a better communicator from that sense. If it’s more of a confidence thing, then like practice more in your everyday life. You know, when you go to Starbucks and order a coffee, ask the barista how their day was. When you get a delivery, ask the same thing to the person who’s delivering your Amazon package. Just have more conversations.

The more natural and confident you feel having those regular real-life conversations, the more natural and confident you’ll feel when the stakes are higher. I would say, like, generally always start with the audience, so really try to understand who it is that you’re speaking to because you can talk about the same topic but to very different audiences. How can you tailor it to them in a way that’s really going to connect with them?

So those would be my top tips. One, seek resources that are free or low investment to work on the tools and frameworks in communication. The second one is to practice more, so just have more conversations. And the third is to always focus on the audience.

PALOMA: Okay, awesome. So is there any other last words that you wanna share with the audience?

AMIT: I don’t think so. I guess I’ll kind of turn it to you and say thank you for having me on and for asking really interesting questions. It was a really nice conversation and it’s always cool to reflect back on work I’ve done with certain jewels and like see how that connects to potentially helping someone else who’s listening to this.

PALOMA: Yeah, same here, and I really learned a lot, not just about communication, but also the deeper layers behind it and especially the role authenticity really plays. So yeah, I know that the listeners will also appreciate this. Thank you.

LINKS:

• Amit Grinvald’s Website
• Amit Grinvald’s Linkedin

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