4 ms·
Instead of "Don't tell the audience you aren't prepared", I'd say simply "Be Prepared". Paul Buchheit started his talk at Startup School by telling the audienc
by mrduncan 17y ago
Instead of "Don't tell the audience you aren't prepared", I'd say simply "Be Prepared".
Paul Buchheit started his talk at Startup School by telling the audience that he was just going to wing it. I'd say he had one of the best talks of the day. Even if he didn't spend a second thinking about what he was going say, it was pretty obvious that he was very well prepared to give a good talk based on previous experience.
That said, I can see where Jason is coming from. Setting expectations is an important part of public speaking (actually it applies to a lot of things). If you tell me you haven't prepared, the first thought that immediately comes to mind is that the talk isn't going to be very good and I'm certainly more likely to zone you out.
- jlees 17y agoI guess that's the thing, if Paul was winging it but has a great deal of experience doing the same thing, that's totally different from Joe Random turning up at a (paid-for) conference without slides or script and saying 'Er, well, I didn't prepare...'. Unless Joe Random is a celebrity of some sort, people will get pissed off. As a total aside, winging it can be great. I far prefer that style to people who are clearly reading from a script of sorts. My performance background's in improv so I'm biased, but I strongly recommend anyone who wants to take up public speaking spend some time in improv workshops. Once you can structure a longform narrative from nothing but a word shouted by an audience member, giving a talk is easy.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]