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> a) know the material inside and out, and b) have practiced shit loads. I remember the first time I went in front of a live audience to give a 2 minute intro.
by nickjj 3y ago
> a) know the material inside and out, and b) have practiced shit loads.
I remember the first time I went in front of a live audience to give a 2 minute intro. It was a meetup with ~60 people and all I had to do was go up and talk about a course I was selling.
On the train ride in, I scripted it out on paper and then re-read it like 30 times.
By the time I got off the train and closed the notebook I forgot everything and dreaded the walk to the venue. I got in front of everyone and tried to recall what I wrote, had a quick internal dialog with myself for about 3 seconds and mentally noted "you're a moron, just wing it". Then I winged it.
In the end it converted ~15% of the room on a tech topic that was ancillary to the main meetup's subject.
On that day I learned I can do well writing something out on paper but I can't remember shit when trying to deliver it live. I have to fall into category (A) and trust myself to deliver but really committing to that with no backup plan does make every experience interesting to say the least.
I've recorded around 300 videos since then and I still need to do the intro about 20 times before I get into the flow to do the rest of the video in basically 1 take. They are usually unscripted with no preparation, I just pick a topic and go.
- jldugger 3y ago> On that day I learned I can do well writing something out on paper but I can't remember shit when trying to deliver it live. Fascinating. What I learned from your anecdote is that massed practice didn't work, just as the literature on human memory predicts. Spaced repetition still sounds like a winner. Practice, sleep, forget almost everything, then repeat until it's go time.
- matsemann 3y agoSo you didn't really prepare, forgot your non-existent "preparation", and then the take-away is that preparation doesn't work..?
- Loughla 3y agoThat is exactly what I'm trying to get across. Preparation isn't immediately before the speaking engagement. It's days, weeks, or if it's a big enough deal, months ahead of time. I don't know why people don't seem to understand that. If it's a topic that is low stakes and I know a shit load about, I'll practice for a day or two. If it's a topic that I know and it's high stakes, I may practice daily for two or three weeks. Everyone who knows me professionally remarks about how relaxed I seem when public speaking. That's because it's all intentional. Every pause. Every single thing. I seem relaxed, because I am relaxed.