10 ms·

Thoughts on Public Speaking (2014)

125 points by madmax108 9y ago

ravenstine 9y ago
Haven't read the entire thing, though there's good stuff in there. One disagreement I have is with the use of slides. Slides should only be used for things that cannot be described merely through words. Mostly graphs and code. Photos, inspirational quotes, and cat gifs should be insulting to the audience because they are distracting, convey no information, and are just an appeal to your senses. Even the second and third best public speakers don't use slides as a crutch, and really nobody should. Public speaking should be entertaining, but it's the speaking itself that should be entertaining. I would rather try be like one of the best public speakers than impress people with my mad web surfing skillz.
- arkitaip 9y ago
  I can here for this comment. To me, slides are like tables or diagrams in a research paper: you only use them because expressing the idea in a paragraph (i.e. speaking) would be too difficult or nonsensical. I understand that some speakers are so slide centric because it's their presentation style or they do it for shits and giggles, but most speakers seems to do it because of ignorance and inexperience.
  - ravenstine 9y ago
    Either way, it's still a crutch. If they do it because it's their style, that's fine except it's utterly pointless and audiences should be insulted by it; at best, the slides just repeat the same information that the speaker is telling you in person, and at worst it's inane kinda funny garbage that I could have easily come across on my own time. The information and insight itself should be compelling enough to carry a talk, and if the speaker can't muster the enthusiasm to actually entertain people while being informative, said speaker really isn't providing much value at all. Admittedly, this is from my perspective and I know that slide-heavy talks amuse people. I'm going to be a pompous jackass and say that people should have a little integrity and actually care more about the information they are receiving than by merely being entertained. In a sense, I am criticizing audiences more than I am speakers because speakers wouldn't get away with these things if they weren't getting even just a couple laughs. Slides have their place, but the ideal should be that they are only used as figures would be in a research paper. Imagine how annoying it would be if most research papers had meme images between every paragraph! Funny at first, but would get super tiresome when you're trying to understand algorithm-heavy concepts.
    - watwut 9y ago
      I like slides that "just repeat the information that was said". It makes it easier to think about previous point (because it is in front of me) and easier to catch up if I lost attention momentary. It makes it also easier to remember what was said afterwards (I can either remember speech or slide visually and having it in two forms help).
- ghaff 9y ago
  There are certainly speeches/talks that don't require the use of slides at all. However, slides do often help engage an audience and keep attention focused. (Though less content is often better.) I tend to use photos plus a relatively few words personally. Presentations that are unadorned but with some minimal text also works. But there are certainly different styles. There's also a tension between presentations that can stand on their own and those that are solely in support of a live presentation. In an ideal world, most decks wouldn't be called on to function as a substitute for watching the actual presentation but that often isn't realistic.
- nunez 9y ago
  Heavily depends on the audience. If you're doing an internal presentation for a company, you can bet that everyone is mostly hoping for a slide deck in their inbox an hour after your talk is done. So it has to have lots of words and pictures.
- snug 9y ago
  I think the cat gifs can work (or other memes,) but it has to be the right speaker. If the speaker is funny then it works, but if the speaker is using it to break the ice or tension, then it does not work and it's just awkward.
amygdala_panic 9y ago
Anyone been able to overcome panic attacks while public speaking? Medication seems like a hassle. And most advice is just obvious tips ("know your material!") that doesn't address the physiological problem. My first talk was in front of a many-thousands-attendees conference and I didn't have a problem. It was fun. I've for years enjoyed speaking in front of groups. Never enjoyed doing the exec presentation per se, but I'd done it before and was comfortable with it. Then at two back-to-back jobs, two managers told me I wasn't actually good at it, neither speaking in front of crowds nor communicating to execs. Basically, they said I sucked at it. Thanks a lot :-( Now I have the pleasure of enjoying a nearly crippling fear of talking in groups. My brain blanks. I stammer and repeat the same thing over and over. I simply can't find the words, and the longer the pause extends, the more I probably look like I'm having a stroke.
- arkitaip 9y ago
  That sounds horrible, so sorry to hear. Gotta say that your managers are jerk for doing you in like that without providing a solution.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- limedaring 9y ago
  Could you try to build up confidence by speaking at smaller/tiny groups that are on your side (peers, friends) and work your way upwards? Counteract the terrible feedback from those managers (ugh, sorry that happened to you) with more positive and welcoming feedback from friends before you move onto strangers.
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
  Have a little sheet with bullet points of your talk so if you get truly lost you can get back on track. Better than that is asking a member of the audience, just be straightforward, "I just lost my track where were we?" Most people forgive a rough-around-the-edges speaker if there's a feeling of informality and participation. Also practicing but quality practice is the key. Record yourself and watch it. Practice in several different places. Practice in front of a friend. Practice at a Toastmasters. Skim your speech during the little spare moments you have. And if you start to get down go search through some tech talks, there's a lot worse speakers than you out there so find one and boost that esteem haha.
yoloswagins 9y ago
This is the "Schaum's Outlines" of public speaking in a technical context. When ever I give a talk, I read the entirety of speaking.io. This style does lead to slides that make little sense outside the context of the talk. When I reviewed the slides for a talk I gave 18 months ago, I had no idea what the slides were about.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  > This style does lead to slides that make little sense outside the context of the talk. When I reviewed the slides for a talk I gave 18 months ago, I had no idea what the slides were about. That happens, but still - I think it's for the best. The way I learned to see it, slides too often are used as crutches by people too afraid of focusing attention on themselves. But that's not how good talks are made. It takes practice to overcome this fear, but you have to. Your public talk is all about your ideas. Which you mostly deliver by speaking them[0]. Slides should have one primary purpose: to help you express your ideas in a clearer way. So e.g. do show a graph or a piece of code you intend to discuss. Do show e.g. a hierarchy of your ideas in a spatial way, if that's a good way for people to imagine the concept. Don't show the points you're going to speak word-for-word. Also, my observation: if you intend to put a joke slide, train transitioning to it well in advance. There aren't many better ways to destroy a joke than to show it on a slide, and then awkwardly proceed to read / explain it. -- [0] - If those ideas are better expressed as an article, just write an article. Also, there's no hurt in doing both - text and public presentations are orthogonal distribution channels.
  - schoen 9y ago
    > Your public talk is all about your ideas. Which you mostly deliver by speaking them[0]. Slides should have one primary purpose: to help you express your ideas in a clearer way. One question I have about this is whether some audience members would still benefit from seeing in written form much of what is spoken. I know that the "learning styles" idea has been drawn into significant question, but it seems possible that there are various benefits. An obvious example is when audience members include non-native speakers of the language of the presentation, where it seems clear that same-language subtitling helps comprehension. (I'm a non-native Portuguese speaker and I recently made English subtitles for a friend's Portuguese-language lecture, which I hope to be able to share with the public soon. I was working with Google's autogenerated Portuguese subtitles, which were often very inaccurate. In about ten places, my friend said something that I totally missed, and could still not understand even after watching the video over and over again. But I'm pretty sure a native speaker would have understood all ten, and that I could understand all of them given accurate same-language subtitles.) But maybe this means that people who offer live subtitling of lectures (which is a thing that's been offered at a few conferences, though maybe it's kind of expensive?) are helpful, not that more of the spoken presentation belongs in the slides. So you could have slides that contain very little of the spoken presentation, plus an optional separate subtitle medium that contains the entirety of it.
snug 9y ago
I'm doing my first meetup talk today. I really wish this was on HN last week. Also I should be practicing and finishing my slides, not on HN right now.
jedimastert 9y ago
One thing I heard many years ago but everyone I tell seems surprised by: Export your slides to PDF. You have no idea what you'll be presenting from, and PDF readers are everywhere and will so up basically the same on every screen. Most PDF readers have a full screen mode where pressing the space bar will advance you one "page", and 99 times out of 100 you don't need transitions. Just do it.
- _e 9y ago
  Yes, PDF is universal but PowerPoint and Keynote have "Presenter view" which adds extra functionality besides just showing you the same slide that your audience sees such as private notes for each slide as well as thumbnails of upcoming slides so you can skip slides without the audience knowing or use a timer to pace yourself [0]. I did a quick search and I could not find out whether Adobe Acrobat has this functionality. [0] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/View-your-speaker-notes-privately-while-delivering-a-presentation-on-multiple-monitors-CCFA1894-E3EF-4955-9C3A-444D58248093 https://support.office.com/en-us/article/View-your-speaker-n...
  - ghaff 9y ago
    I'll always have a PDF on a thumb drive in case something goes sideways with Powerpoint of whatever. But, as you say, there are advantages to presenting from presentation software. In general, I try to be as ready as possible for a Plan B that mitigates whatever projection and network problems arise.
thinbeige 9y ago
There are two major problems with public speaking: 1. Many do public speaking for the sake of public speaking. To prove themselves something. That they can publicly speak. This is wrong. You need to have a clear goal. Your speech is an enabler. E.g. you want to attract new clients, employees, funding, whatever. Even just to strengthen your personal brand doesn't work either. Behind this semi-goal must be again a clear and meaningful goal. E.g. increase personal brand because you want to sell x or position yourself as expert in field y. If you have this clear gloal your speech will fly by itself. If not you will utterly fail and you feel it every second of that speech. 2) The bigger problem is that people heavily learn their speech before. Just learn the first five minutes. Then try to speak to the public like you would speak to a good friend. Don't learn sentences. Just have a rough outline of the speech in your head. The best speeches usually come when you didn't prepare at all (but this never happens).
- indogooner 9y ago
  Definitely agree on 1. Having a clear goal makes it a much better experience by soothing the nerves esp. for someone like me who doesn't speaks often in public. The more clarity I have about my content more confident I feel while speaking. I would like to try 2) and see how it goes.
- patcheudor 9y ago
  Yes! I've found that public speaking has become almost second nature to me over the years only after becoming an absolute expert in my field to the point I generate unique research and can bring new things to the table. As a result, I may prepare a slide deck ahead of time and am usually still working on it just before I speak. The slide-deck itself are breadcrumbs. It's there to keep me on subject but in terms of preparation, I don't prepare because I don't need to thanks to how well I know the subject matter.
- Vinnl 9y ago
  > Then try to speak to the public like you would speak to a good friend. I think this works better for some people than for others. When I speak to a good friend, often I'm rambling and not articulating clearly, and I often lose track of the point of my story. It happens far more often than I like that I fail to capture someone's interest, and I definitely don't want that to happen on stage.
bbernard 9y ago
Public speaking isn't a skill. It's a habit. The more you practice it, the more comfortable, the more structured and the more natural you become. I've been in Toastmasters for almost 7 years now. And it seriously changed me for the better.
- 6stringmerc 9y ago
  Agreed, former Speech and Debate participant for several years. Did not place well. Consistently last actually. Was extremely useful in learning to care less and less about being in front of people and the center of attention. Still get massive guitar playing stage fright though.
  - mapster 9y ago
    Did speaking often not make it easier for you? You agree with the comment, but your experience says otherwise. Curious.
binarymax 9y ago
Great site with some good advice. I particularly like this part: "Talks are Entertainment - Public speaking's dirty little secret." The best thing I learned for giving a good talk, and what I tell myself every time, is that it's story time for adults. Think back to a young age, and how you learned all those morals with fables and stories. Want to give a good talk? Make it a good story with wit and anecdotes. Be Garrison Keillor up there, and you'll see sparkling eyes and open mouthed smiles.
- mapster 9y ago
  that's a tall order. And the topic requires a different approach. scientific topics require 'just the facts ma'am' with extra points for a dash of shop humor.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - binarymax 9y ago
    Ultimately, the goal of a talk is to win the hearts and minds of the audience. If you achieve that, while communicating the foundational ideas and knowledge required to go further (perhaps implementation of a paper or replication of an experiment), then the talk was successful.
  - marcosdumay 9y ago
    What facts? For example, this sequence: This is an open problem -> We've got those results -> This is how we did it -> We used this methodology Is very different from this sequence: We used this methodology -> This is how we did it -> We've got those results -> This is the problem we solved
    - mapster 9y ago
      the former - just the facts on hypothesis, methods, yada yada. audience may be taking notes. so a concise well rehearsed presentation is optimal.
- 9y ago
Numberwang 9y ago
Props to whoever designed the page for staying away from parallax effects and unnecessary effects.
6stringmerc 9y ago
One facet that I think the site could add would be "expected time investment" for many of the steps. They sound simple as one liners, because in concept they are. However, "Record yourself" can be quite a bit of time and review and re-doing - three times for a 30 minute speech is 90 minutes. That's a lot of talking! The layout and structure of the advice provided is quite good, and I think it's a great reference point. As somebody who has been half-naked and tied up in front of about 10 people for the sake of making a student film, it helps reset the concept of performance a little.
TACIXAT 9y ago
I've noticed that professional speakers and actors speak very different from how I do. There is a much more dynamic use of tone and they generally speak more slowly. I occasionally speak at conferences and have thought about recording lessons and wanted to know how to do this. I searched pretty hard for tips and there isn't much. I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube videos and making a playlist [1] of what I thought was valuable. If you're interested, check it out. 1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLanzwyndb8YV4euD0LeidpttxYi8IhUw https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLanzwyndb8YV4euD0Lei...
- wu-ikkyu 9y ago
  >There is a much more dynamic use of tone and they generally speak more slowly. From what I've read on social engineering[1] and communications theory a slower speaker is generally perceived as more calm, confident, and deliberate whereas fast talkers are often perceived as being more anxious. Also, alteration of tones is a tactic often used to add subtle influence to the delivery of key words and concepts. [1]https://www.amazon.com/Social-Engineering-Art-Human-Hacking/dp/1480590320 https://www.amazon.com/Social-Engineering-Art-Human-Hacking/...
  - jriot 9y ago
    I was air traffic controller for 11 years - we were trained to speak slow, calm and concise for these exact reasons.
Cerium 9y ago
I'm not great now, but used to be an absolutely dreadful public speaker. While I was in college I got a most of a year warning that I would have to give a technical presentation to an audience of a few hundred. At that point I could not do that. I told myself, "If you are going to stand in front of that many people and talk, you need practice". So for the next 8 months EVERY time a professor asked for a volunteer I said yes. No matter how ill prepared I was. Once I got myself into a real pickle. I volunteered to do a homework problem on the board for a homework I had not done yet on a subject I was weak in. It went ok. I had to ask the class for help, and announced what steps I thought I should do. After that I began to trust the advice that the audience wants you to succeed. When it came time to giving the presentation I practiced a huge amount. Recorded it and watched it again and again. I also spent time thinking of every question that could be asked and prepared backup slides (with quick links) to visuals to support the top 10 questions I guessed might be asked. I got to use two of those visuals to answer questions. Overall it was a great experience and I was able to place 4th at the national level of the competition.
dang 9y ago
Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7059303 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7059303.
tincholio 9y ago
Minor nit... Conferences have CFPs, you don't write a CFP! (unless you're organizing a conference). It's a call for papers, speakers submit papers (at least in academia, I guess in tech conferences maybe an abstract sufices)

125 points by madmax108 9y ago

Haven't read the entire thing, though there's good stuff in there. One disagreement I have is with the use of slides. Slides should only be used for things that cannot be described merely through words. Mostly graphs and code. Photos, inspirational quotes, and cat gifs should be insulting to the audience because they are distracting, convey no information, and are just an appeal to your senses. Even the second and third best public speakers don't use slides as a crutch, and really nobody should. Public speaking should be entertaining, but it's the speaking itself that should be entertaining. I would rather try be like one of the best public speakers than impress people with my mad web surfing skillz.

arkitaip 9y ago
I can here for this comment. To me, slides are like tables or diagrams in a research paper: you only use them because expressing the idea in a paragraph (i.e. speaking) would be too difficult or nonsensical. I understand that some speakers are so slide centric because it's their presentation style or they do it for shits and giggles, but most speakers seems to do it because of ignorance and inexperience.
- ravenstine 9y ago
  Either way, it's still a crutch. If they do it because it's their style, that's fine except it's utterly pointless and audiences should be insulted by it; at best, the slides just repeat the same information that the speaker is telling you in person, and at worst it's inane kinda funny garbage that I could have easily come across on my own time. The information and insight itself should be compelling enough to carry a talk, and if the speaker can't muster the enthusiasm to actually entertain people while being informative, said speaker really isn't providing much value at all. Admittedly, this is from my perspective and I know that slide-heavy talks amuse people. I'm going to be a pompous jackass and say that people should have a little integrity and actually care more about the information they are receiving than by merely being entertained. In a sense, I am criticizing audiences more than I am speakers because speakers wouldn't get away with these things if they weren't getting even just a couple laughs. Slides have their place, but the ideal should be that they are only used as figures would be in a research paper. Imagine how annoying it would be if most research papers had meme images between every paragraph! Funny at first, but would get super tiresome when you're trying to understand algorithm-heavy concepts.
  - watwut 9y ago
    I like slides that "just repeat the information that was said". It makes it easier to think about previous point (because it is in front of me) and easier to catch up if I lost attention momentary. It makes it also easier to remember what was said afterwards (I can either remember speech or slide visually and having it in two forms help).
ghaff 9y ago
There are certainly speeches/talks that don't require the use of slides at all. However, slides do often help engage an audience and keep attention focused. (Though less content is often better.) I tend to use photos plus a relatively few words personally. Presentations that are unadorned but with some minimal text also works. But there are certainly different styles. There's also a tension between presentations that can stand on their own and those that are solely in support of a live presentation. In an ideal world, most decks wouldn't be called on to function as a substitute for watching the actual presentation but that often isn't realistic.
nunez 9y ago
Heavily depends on the audience. If you're doing an internal presentation for a company, you can bet that everyone is mostly hoping for a slide deck in their inbox an hour after your talk is done. So it has to have lots of words and pictures.
snug 9y ago
I think the cat gifs can work (or other memes,) but it has to be the right speaker. If the speaker is funny then it works, but if the speaker is using it to break the ice or tension, then it does not work and it's just awkward.

amygdala_panic 9y ago

Anyone been able to overcome panic attacks while public speaking? Medication seems like a hassle. And most advice is just obvious tips ("know your material!") that doesn't address the physiological problem. My first talk was in front of a many-thousands-attendees conference and I didn't have a problem. It was fun. I've for years enjoyed speaking in front of groups. Never enjoyed doing the exec presentation per se, but I'd done it before and was comfortable with it. Then at two back-to-back jobs, two managers told me I wasn't actually good at it, neither speaking in front of crowds nor communicating to execs. Basically, they said I sucked at it. Thanks a lot :-( Now I have the pleasure of enjoying a nearly crippling fear of talking in groups. My brain blanks. I stammer and repeat the same thing over and over. I simply can't find the words, and the longer the pause extends, the more I probably look like I'm having a stroke.

arkitaip 9y ago
That sounds horrible, so sorry to hear. Gotta say that your managers are jerk for doing you in like that without providing a solution.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
limedaring 9y ago
Could you try to build up confidence by speaking at smaller/tiny groups that are on your side (peers, friends) and work your way upwards? Counteract the terrible feedback from those managers (ugh, sorry that happened to you) with more positive and welcoming feedback from friends before you move onto strangers.
frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
Have a little sheet with bullet points of your talk so if you get truly lost you can get back on track. Better than that is asking a member of the audience, just be straightforward, "I just lost my track where were we?" Most people forgive a rough-around-the-edges speaker if there's a feeling of informality and participation. Also practicing but quality practice is the key. Record yourself and watch it. Practice in several different places. Practice in front of a friend. Practice at a Toastmasters. Skim your speech during the little spare moments you have. And if you start to get down go search through some tech talks, there's a lot worse speakers than you out there so find one and boost that esteem haha.

yoloswagins 9y ago

This is the "Schaum's Outlines" of public speaking in a technical context. When ever I give a talk, I read the entirety of speaking.io. This style does lead to slides that make little sense outside the context of the talk. When I reviewed the slides for a talk I gave 18 months ago, I had no idea what the slides were about.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
> This style does lead to slides that make little sense outside the context of the talk. When I reviewed the slides for a talk I gave 18 months ago, I had no idea what the slides were about. That happens, but still - I think it's for the best. The way I learned to see it, slides too often are used as crutches by people too afraid of focusing attention on themselves. But that's not how good talks are made. It takes practice to overcome this fear, but you have to. Your public talk is all about your ideas. Which you mostly deliver by speaking them[0]. Slides should have one primary purpose: to help you express your ideas in a clearer way. So e.g. do show a graph or a piece of code you intend to discuss. Do show e.g. a hierarchy of your ideas in a spatial way, if that's a good way for people to imagine the concept. Don't show the points you're going to speak word-for-word. Also, my observation: if you intend to put a joke slide, train transitioning to it well in advance. There aren't many better ways to destroy a joke than to show it on a slide, and then awkwardly proceed to read / explain it. -- [0] - If those ideas are better expressed as an article, just write an article. Also, there's no hurt in doing both - text and public presentations are orthogonal distribution channels.
- schoen 9y ago
  > Your public talk is all about your ideas. Which you mostly deliver by speaking them[0]. Slides should have one primary purpose: to help you express your ideas in a clearer way. One question I have about this is whether some audience members would still benefit from seeing in written form much of what is spoken. I know that the "learning styles" idea has been drawn into significant question, but it seems possible that there are various benefits. An obvious example is when audience members include non-native speakers of the language of the presentation, where it seems clear that same-language subtitling helps comprehension. (I'm a non-native Portuguese speaker and I recently made English subtitles for a friend's Portuguese-language lecture, which I hope to be able to share with the public soon. I was working with Google's autogenerated Portuguese subtitles, which were often very inaccurate. In about ten places, my friend said something that I totally missed, and could still not understand even after watching the video over and over again. But I'm pretty sure a native speaker would have understood all ten, and that I could understand all of them given accurate same-language subtitles.) But maybe this means that people who offer live subtitling of lectures (which is a thing that's been offered at a few conferences, though maybe it's kind of expensive?) are helpful, not that more of the spoken presentation belongs in the slides. So you could have slides that contain very little of the spoken presentation, plus an optional separate subtitle medium that contains the entirety of it.

snug 9y ago

I'm doing my first meetup talk today. I really wish this was on HN last week. Also I should be practicing and finishing my slides, not on HN right now.

jedimastert 9y ago

One thing I heard many years ago but everyone I tell seems surprised by: Export your slides to PDF. You have no idea what you'll be presenting from, and PDF readers are everywhere and will so up basically the same on every screen. Most PDF readers have a full screen mode where pressing the space bar will advance you one "page", and 99 times out of 100 you don't need transitions. Just do it.

_e 9y ago
Yes, PDF is universal but PowerPoint and Keynote have "Presenter view" which adds extra functionality besides just showing you the same slide that your audience sees such as private notes for each slide as well as thumbnails of upcoming slides so you can skip slides without the audience knowing or use a timer to pace yourself [0]. I did a quick search and I could not find out whether Adobe Acrobat has this functionality. [0] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/View-your-speaker-notes-privately-while-delivering-a-presentation-on-multiple-monitors-CCFA1894-E3EF-4955-9C3A-444D58248093 https://support.office.com/en-us/article/View-your-speaker-n...
- ghaff 9y ago
  I'll always have a PDF on a thumb drive in case something goes sideways with Powerpoint of whatever. But, as you say, there are advantages to presenting from presentation software. In general, I try to be as ready as possible for a Plan B that mitigates whatever projection and network problems arise.

thinbeige 9y ago

There are two major problems with public speaking: 1. Many do public speaking for the sake of public speaking. To prove themselves something. That they can publicly speak. This is wrong. You need to have a clear goal. Your speech is an enabler. E.g. you want to attract new clients, employees, funding, whatever. Even just to strengthen your personal brand doesn't work either. Behind this semi-goal must be again a clear and meaningful goal. E.g. increase personal brand because you want to sell x or position yourself as expert in field y. If you have this clear gloal your speech will fly by itself. If not you will utterly fail and you feel it every second of that speech. 2) The bigger problem is that people heavily learn their speech before. Just learn the first five minutes. Then try to speak to the public like you would speak to a good friend. Don't learn sentences. Just have a rough outline of the speech in your head. The best speeches usually come when you didn't prepare at all (but this never happens).

indogooner 9y ago
Definitely agree on 1. Having a clear goal makes it a much better experience by soothing the nerves esp. for someone like me who doesn't speaks often in public. The more clarity I have about my content more confident I feel while speaking. I would like to try 2) and see how it goes.
patcheudor 9y ago
Yes! I've found that public speaking has become almost second nature to me over the years only after becoming an absolute expert in my field to the point I generate unique research and can bring new things to the table. As a result, I may prepare a slide deck ahead of time and am usually still working on it just before I speak. The slide-deck itself are breadcrumbs. It's there to keep me on subject but in terms of preparation, I don't prepare because I don't need to thanks to how well I know the subject matter.
Vinnl 9y ago
> Then try to speak to the public like you would speak to a good friend. I think this works better for some people than for others. When I speak to a good friend, often I'm rambling and not articulating clearly, and I often lose track of the point of my story. It happens far more often than I like that I fail to capture someone's interest, and I definitely don't want that to happen on stage.

bbernard 9y ago

Public speaking isn't a skill. It's a habit. The more you practice it, the more comfortable, the more structured and the more natural you become. I've been in Toastmasters for almost 7 years now. And it seriously changed me for the better.

6stringmerc 9y ago
Agreed, former Speech and Debate participant for several years. Did not place well. Consistently last actually. Was extremely useful in learning to care less and less about being in front of people and the center of attention. Still get massive guitar playing stage fright though.
- mapster 9y ago
  Did speaking often not make it easier for you? You agree with the comment, but your experience says otherwise. Curious.

binarymax 9y ago

Great site with some good advice. I particularly like this part: "Talks are Entertainment - Public speaking's dirty little secret." The best thing I learned for giving a good talk, and what I tell myself every time, is that it's story time for adults. Think back to a young age, and how you learned all those morals with fables and stories. Want to give a good talk? Make it a good story with wit and anecdotes. Be Garrison Keillor up there, and you'll see sparkling eyes and open mouthed smiles.

mapster 9y ago
that's a tall order. And the topic requires a different approach. scientific topics require 'just the facts ma'am' with extra points for a dash of shop humor.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- binarymax 9y ago
  Ultimately, the goal of a talk is to win the hearts and minds of the audience. If you achieve that, while communicating the foundational ideas and knowledge required to go further (perhaps implementation of a paper or replication of an experiment), then the talk was successful.
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  What facts? For example, this sequence: This is an open problem -> We've got those results -> This is how we did it -> We used this methodology Is very different from this sequence: We used this methodology -> This is how we did it -> We've got those results -> This is the problem we solved
  - mapster 9y ago
    the former - just the facts on hypothesis, methods, yada yada. audience may be taking notes. so a concise well rehearsed presentation is optimal.
9y ago

Numberwang 9y ago

Props to whoever designed the page for staying away from parallax effects and unnecessary effects.

6stringmerc 9y ago

One facet that I think the site could add would be "expected time investment" for many of the steps. They sound simple as one liners, because in concept they are. However, "Record yourself" can be quite a bit of time and review and re-doing - three times for a 30 minute speech is 90 minutes. That's a lot of talking! The layout and structure of the advice provided is quite good, and I think it's a great reference point. As somebody who has been half-naked and tied up in front of about 10 people for the sake of making a student film, it helps reset the concept of performance a little.

TACIXAT 9y ago

I've noticed that professional speakers and actors speak very different from how I do. There is a much more dynamic use of tone and they generally speak more slowly. I occasionally speak at conferences and have thought about recording lessons and wanted to know how to do this. I searched pretty hard for tips and there isn't much. I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube videos and making a playlist [1] of what I thought was valuable. If you're interested, check it out. 1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLanzwyndb8YV4euD0LeidpttxYi8IhUw https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLanzwyndb8YV4euD0Lei...

wu-ikkyu 9y ago
>There is a much more dynamic use of tone and they generally speak more slowly. From what I've read on social engineering[1] and communications theory a slower speaker is generally perceived as more calm, confident, and deliberate whereas fast talkers are often perceived as being more anxious. Also, alteration of tones is a tactic often used to add subtle influence to the delivery of key words and concepts. [1]https://www.amazon.com/Social-Engineering-Art-Human-Hacking/dp/1480590320 https://www.amazon.com/Social-Engineering-Art-Human-Hacking/...
- jriot 9y ago
  I was air traffic controller for 11 years - we were trained to speak slow, calm and concise for these exact reasons.

Cerium 9y ago

I'm not great now, but used to be an absolutely dreadful public speaker. While I was in college I got a most of a year warning that I would have to give a technical presentation to an audience of a few hundred. At that point I could not do that. I told myself, "If you are going to stand in front of that many people and talk, you need practice". So for the next 8 months EVERY time a professor asked for a volunteer I said yes. No matter how ill prepared I was. Once I got myself into a real pickle. I volunteered to do a homework problem on the board for a homework I had not done yet on a subject I was weak in. It went ok. I had to ask the class for help, and announced what steps I thought I should do. After that I began to trust the advice that the audience wants you to succeed. When it came time to giving the presentation I practiced a huge amount. Recorded it and watched it again and again. I also spent time thinking of every question that could be asked and prepared backup slides (with quick links) to visuals to support the top 10 questions I guessed might be asked. I got to use two of those visuals to answer questions. Overall it was a great experience and I was able to place 4th at the national level of the competition.

dang 9y ago

Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7059303 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7059303.

tincholio 9y ago

Minor nit... Conferences have CFPs, you don't write a CFP! (unless you're organizing a conference). It's a call for papers, speakers submit papers (at least in academia, I guess in tech conferences maybe an abstract sufices)