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In one sense you're practicing the wrong thing. You need to practice going off from the top of your head, not practice any particular routine or speech. How lon

In one sense you're practicing the wrong thing. You need to practice going off from the top of your head, not practice any particular routine or speech. How long can you talk to yourself without going blank on what to say next, or getting stuck in a repetition loop? If you have this down, then you can practice speeches, but when you inevitably forget something because memory isn't perfect, your skills at improvising and filling in the blanks and shifting topics will save you. Watch one of John Carmack's talks. He just stands for three hours talking. No slides, no notecards. Sure he goes over notes and ideas for what he wants to talk about beforehand, but he doesn't memorize his talk. That'd take way too long.

nickjj 11y ago
Yeah, that is really important. I started creating online courses recently and while I can perform well under no pressure in the comfort of my own home while taking as many cuts as I need to get out what I want to say, I have trouble explaining things live to an audience. So far I've gone up twice in front of 70 or so people for only 60 seconds to announce my course. It's material I know very well. The first time was pretty bad. Not a total tank, but lots of fumbling around and eventually saying things in a way that wasn't very clear at all. The second time was a bit better. It had a rocky start for the first 3-4 seconds (aka. life times when you're up there) but I pulled it together and something vaguely coherent came out. I kind of just went into auto-pilot mode with confidence because it's something I wrote out like 20 different ways when I was working on my introduction video. I didn't study a script for either of them but I practiced what I wanted to say in my head while I was walking to the venue. Probably not the best plan, but I've never been strong at having to memorize long blocks of text, it's just not how my brain works. I think you do have to study hard to give a good presentation but being able to improvise is critical, especially if you plan to take questions at the end.
- CptMauli 11y ago
  For me the opposite is true. I don't have a problem talking to a larger crowd (as long as I know my stuff), but if it is recorded, even if I'm doing the recording myself (as in a screencast) and have the ability to take as many takes as I want, I can't manage to pull through. I'm stumbling and it is totally frustrating, since it takes such a long time.
  - nickjj 11y ago
    For my self recorded content I try to do it without any scripts, but if I find myself struggling I'll script out every single word. You should try that because the script helps a lot. The only problem with a script is you need to become an actor because it's not easy to pull off reading from a script without sounding like it's a script. Usually after a few takes with the script, I end up with like 80% scripted / 20% improvised. I'd like to eventually flip that to 20/80, but I know it'll take practice.

nickjj 11y ago

Yeah, that is really important. I started creating online courses recently and while I can perform well under no pressure in the comfort of my own home while taking as many cuts as I need to get out what I want to say, I have trouble explaining things live to an audience. So far I've gone up twice in front of 70 or so people for only 60 seconds to announce my course. It's material I know very well. The first time was pretty bad. Not a total tank, but lots of fumbling around and eventually saying things in a way that wasn't very clear at all. The second time was a bit better. It had a rocky start for the first 3-4 seconds (aka. life times when you're up there) but I pulled it together and something vaguely coherent came out. I kind of just went into auto-pilot mode with confidence because it's something I wrote out like 20 different ways when I was working on my introduction video. I didn't study a script for either of them but I practiced what I wanted to say in my head while I was walking to the venue. Probably not the best plan, but I've never been strong at having to memorize long blocks of text, it's just not how my brain works. I think you do have to study hard to give a good presentation but being able to improvise is critical, especially if you plan to take questions at the end.

CptMauli 11y ago
For me the opposite is true. I don't have a problem talking to a larger crowd (as long as I know my stuff), but if it is recorded, even if I'm doing the recording myself (as in a screencast) and have the ability to take as many takes as I want, I can't manage to pull through. I'm stumbling and it is totally frustrating, since it takes such a long time.
- nickjj 11y ago
  For my self recorded content I try to do it without any scripts, but if I find myself struggling I'll script out every single word. You should try that because the script helps a lot. The only problem with a script is you need to become an actor because it's not easy to pull off reading from a script without sounding like it's a script. Usually after a few takes with the script, I end up with like 80% scripted / 20% improvised. I'd like to eventually flip that to 20/80, but I know it'll take practice.