Getting into public speaking
james.brooks.page
james.brooks.page
I like to give public speaches, but I organize myself completely differently. I spend much time making Slides that are easy to follow and logically ordered, and in each I know that I can say a little more or a little less without disrupting the message. I know that I can count on 1 slide = 1 min. Unless lots of images.
I don't rehearse as I know that I prepared well my slides. Then during the talk I add more or less informations naturally depending on the time left and on the facial expressions of the audience. I usually finish exactly on time.
Usually I read my slides and think about what exactly to say only just before the talk.
I find this way more natural, and less scripted, and I usually get compliments on my presentation and naturalness. I think rehearsing removes much of the naturalness of a talk, unless that aspect is worked extensively, but that could sound a little too scripted for my taste.
One trick that I use often if I tend to forget some information that is important to say, is to put one word that trigger the information IN the slide, but in very light Grey, and in a natural place, like close to an image. So if I ever forget what to say, I have my landmarks in each slide to guide me.
I guess everyone is different in regards to handling the pressure when talking in public, but I do agree that you can feel it, most of the time, when someone rehearsed too "scholarly".
All that said, an overly-rehearsed talk can come across as stilted/reading from a script.
When what you’re presenting is something you have actual knowledge about, it can be easier to say what you think rather than stress about “sticking to the script.”
True of public speaking just as much as interviewing.
Many people unnecessarily stress about public speaking because they believe the script is the only thing that matters.
Though I admit there is no one size fits all when it comes to speaking.
But, to your point, I agree that your method is the best way if you know the subject matter. When I practice it's mainly for transitions/flow and not the information.
All this is not great for the audience (who have "invested" into your session, by paying for the ticket, spending time away from work and family, not attending other concurrent sessions, etc.), and it can so easily be avoided by rehearsing.
The most common reason I have seen for folks skipping to rehearse is the awkward feeling you might have when speaking loud all by yourself. If that's the issue, it can help to do a dry run in front of colleagues. In any case, "winging it" is best reserved for later on, after having gathered quite a bit of speaking experience and having spoken about the same, or very similar, topics before.
I'd also recommend to avoid reading from slides during a talk as much as possible, it's also not a great experience for the audience. There shouldn't be much text on slides to begin with, as folks will either read that, or listen to what you say, but typically have a hard time doing both at once.
(All this is a general recommendation, not a comment on your talks which I have not seen)
Returning to university after my industrial year, I took a very dim view of the academic environment and resented being asked to do this task that was worth no credit towards my degree.
So I didn't rehearse or even make any slides, I just stood up and talked about what I had been up to.
And although I was by any measure an extremely inexperienced speaker, it was the best talk I had ever given. It was the first time I stood in front of a room of people and felt present in the environment while giving my talk, rather than monotonously reciting the rehearsed material.
So obviously different people have different experiences, but I learnt that day that rehearsing your talk isn't always helpful.
It helped that I really enjoyed my industrial year and had loads of interesting stuff to talk about. So maybe the more important thing is to be interested in the topic.
I was amazed at how naturally and well he did. All he wrote down were 6-7 topics to talk about. He got a huge applause.
I do try and work hard enough on my slides to make sure that the stuff I'm talking about is paced well enough and I do prepare a light "outline" in my brain to remember keep points that I don't want to forget to bring up (that might not be directly in the slides), but most of the words I say are improvised. I don't know if the talks I've given are "good" or not but people generally laugh at my jokes and I've generally received positive feedback at Lambda Days.
I will say, one thing that really helped me become a better speaker was lecturing for two semesters at a local university. I tend to be a very fast talker and have been most of my life, and it's easy for people to not fully hear what I have said (especially if they don't know me very well and haven't adapted to my mannerisms). When I started lecturing, I learned how to force myself to slow down so that students could understand what I said I don't lose them in the dust.
Another comprehensive guide for tech-speakers is https://speaking.io/ by Zach Holman.
It's as though the natural state of the machines and tech is so fast, that we're trying to keep the information transmission as dense as possible so we can end the call.
Side note, I was watching an interview with Cory Doctorow and because of the tv segment style, both he and the interviewer were BLASTING through their talking points.
I wonder how much of our speech is being affected by the "say as much as you can before commercial break" model.
That said, I have recorded some podcasts with people where I felt I really needed to go into Audacity and have it automatically cut out a bunch of pauses because there were just too many of them.
I've also found that having both video and audio of yourself is a great way to uncover both visual and audio quirks.
I also remember a senior IBM exec who, during Q&A at analyst conferences, would make notes (or seemed to) which served a few purposes including just taking a few seconds to collect his thoughts.
I'm kind of unique in my family, the rest of my family speaks at a more or less normal rate, so it could be some neuroligical or spectrum thing specific to me.
It seems to me that the problem isn't speaking fast per se, but almost speaking where you're tripping over yourself unconfidently. Bryan, for example, often does trip over his words, but he's confident in what he has to say and enunciates very clearly (he's basically yelling).
During the pandemic I made a few Youtube videos, basically public speaking without an audience. I was amazed at how hard it was, I spend hours and hours trying to speak with any confidence. Funnily enough though, at tech meetups, I'm pretty comfortable presenting in front of everyone even though I see others struggle so much. Not sure what's the difference.
I think one of the problems with speaking for video is that you're self-conscious and feel you need to be perfect. When I started doing a lot of recorded presentations during COVID, I just felt uncomfortable in a way that I didn't with an in-person audience.
(I'm fine being on video but recording yourself feels a lot harder for me.)
To that end: different styles work for different people. Yes, I speak quickly (or can!), but there's a method to the madness: when I am speaking fastest (and... tripping over my words, I guess?), it is likely something that -- while interesting/weird -- is in fact only tangentially related to my main point. For me, it's really important to have my actual points written on my slide: my actual decks[0] are really important to me, and serve to make my main points -- albeit devoid of the visceral metaphors for which I've become (in)famous.
It is praise; you are my favourite speaker. A lot of what you cover in talks or on the podcast is (or was) unknown to me, but I listen because it's never made to seem uninteresting, there's a passion that comes from the heart (true of the other Oxide podcast staff too). I learn a lot of information, and the anecdotes actually stick it into my brain like thumbtacks.
As for tripping: I mean to say that in natural [non-verbetim] speech, there's natural moments where we find our footing. In a speech/talk setting, it's easy to feel like you lose that footing and fall into the volcano, if you're unsteady. You show that speed itself isn't the issue and you can actually run around the volcano without falling in (–this is still praise, I swear).
Also, I must ask: (when) will the people see the release of Netris?
First exercise. Breathe out. Take a full breath in for a mental count of 2. Hold for a mental count of 4. Breathe out for a mental count of 6. How do you feel?
It sounds ridiculous that this does anything. But it relaxes you because your brain recognizes the rhythm of a contented sigh - then rushes to put you in that state. Do that the moment that you stand on stage. Do it again any time you need it. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference it makes.
Next exercise. Put, commas, in. The act of standing silent is an act of control that leaves you feeling in control. Trying to slow down results in, "I'mRacing,I'mRacing, SlowDown, I've slowed down, I'mRacingAgain!" But putting in a comma makes it easy to slow down.
This has a second benefit as well. If we're feeling nervous silence is hard on us. So we put in those filler "ahs" and "ums". It is very rare for people to be conscious of how much we do that. Instead we process it subconsciously, as an awareness of anxiety. And our awareness of our own anxiety, creates more anxiety, and off we go!
And so I like to say, "Put in a pause, or you'll say your ahs!" Try it. Those commas really work.
The third thing is this. When we stand in front of an audience, most of us get a shot of adrenaline. We frame it as "social anxiety". But it's really not. It's social adrenaline. If you learn to interpret it as "on a rollercoaster" instead of "there's a tiger", it goes from scary to fun.
This takes a bit of practice. But (with the mind-body skills), less than you'd expect. And it is easy to find a place to practice if you join a local Toastmasters club.
What really helped for me (and I realize that this doesn't scale to everyone) was lecturing for two semesters. I had pretty good motivation to slow down when students' grades and futures depended on understanding what I'm saying.
I didn't realize how much this helped until I presented at a conference after I was finished teaching, and I realized about midway through my talk that I was speaking considerably slower than I usually did at these things, because it turns out that public speaking and lecturing aren't actually that different.
But my advice to current and future public speakers is this: never, ever add fluff to fill the engagement time. Every audience everywhere would rather you take 33 minutes instead of 50 if those 17 minutes would have been filled with, basically, garbage information designed to fill time.
It's awful how often people think giving a talk is some kind of speech class homework. It's not. You're not graded on filling the time.
A Toastmasters club is like a simulated environment for public speaking where everyone is extremely supportive. I was still anxious even I knew that at the beginning... even when everyone insisted anything was okay.
After 100+ speech giving at a club in Bellevue, now I don't feel anxious anymore speaking in front of 50+ people in a real-world situation where everyone might not be supportive. I can just get up and speak.
It's funny how our minds even work. It turns out simulation is good enough for training our minds.
The quality of public speaking is a separate aspect. Toastmasters do help with that but I can't claim I am good at it yet. But, for anxiety, I now feel almost nothing.
Went to my local group last week and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of speaking.
Some of the advice given in this post is universal, some is very, very specific and should be taken with a huge fistful of salt.
So assess it for yourself. Does it feel like it applies to you? Then adopt it.
Does it feel odd, alien, or simply wrong? Don't dismiss it immediately. Give it some attention, try to understand why the author is suggesting it, then decide whether or not to give it a go.
Besides that, i guess schools/student groups that seek professionals. Non-profits works as well, I did that when I was younger (advocacy).