Rands in Repose crafts a fantastic essay about the process of writing the speaking portion of presentations. The approach he recommends is very similar to the process I follow in drafting my presentations, and he describes it far more eloquently than I ever could. Here's an excerpt.

Did you notice as you stood in your office talking to no one in particular how thoughts in your head sounded different than on the slides? Did you discover flaws in logic? Mysterious new gaps in content on the slides you’ve been staring at all morning? That’s progress.

For more, follow the link: Rands in Repose: Out Loud

Tags: prep, speaking

image by Randall Munroe

I have to try this sometime. If you like this, visit xkcd for more simple but funny comics.

Tags: humor, speaking

We are trained to expect walls between speakers and audiences. These walls can take many forms – notecards, lecterns, body language, even slides. Often, we don't even notice them, but they are there, creating barriers to our audience members being able to fully absorb the message of our talks.


image from stock.xchng

Look Up. Look Out. Staring down at notecards or back at slides creates a separation between speaker and audience. The speaker is not giving them his/her full attention. The audience will have a hard time giving undivided attention in return. When reading your talk, you tend to not sound interested, and you lose eye contact with with those you are trying to communicate. The only solution is to know your talk well enough that you don't need these aids. Yes, you should have notes if your mind blanks, but they should not be the primary focus of your attention.

Open Up. Body language is powerful. Keep your hands free. Walk around a bit while you talk. Smile. Avoid the humorous mistake of folding your fingers during a presentation No one likes being compared to Mr. Burns!

image by apple
Come Out in the Open. The lectern is a powerful barrier between you and the people in your audience. It's more than a psychological separation. It's a physical one. Standing behind a lecturn and staring down at notes is a convention of many veteran speakers, but it is not the best method of communication. Get out where your audience can see you. Just gaining the comfort level to discard this barrier will be a huge step in more closely connecting with your audience.

Too many public speaking classes actively promote these bad habits as "best practices." We are taught to hold notecards. We are encouraged to create crutch slides. We are trained to stand behind podiums, remaining stiff and formal as we present. However, tradition is not always correct. If we want to connect with the people in our audiences, we have to be willing to tear down those psychological and physical walls and expose ourselves to some extent. To make an impact, we must be open to being vulnerable.

Tags: atmosphere, connections, speaking

This is one of a few posts I have had gestating in my brain since watching Steve Job's Macworld 2007 keynote. By now, you probably know the products announced during the keynote, and you've possibly seen and/or read reaction to those products from various sources. However, reading and viewing commentary just doesn't have the same impact as watching Steve Jobs speak.



Throughout his talks, Mr. Jobs will demo his own products, but he does so with an enthusiasm that's contagious. He doesn't just share facts, figures, and specifications about the product – he shares excitement. He connects with the audience at an emotional level. He doesn't just say, "This product is great." He says, "This is why I think this product is amazing, and let me show you! Don't you think this is great?" He exudes passion for the products he is presenting, and that passion is contagious.


"Unbelievable."

Who else can make scrolling through a playlist feel revolutionary? Who else makes Google Maps and HTML email feel fresh and exciting? People notice Apple products (and are polarized by them) partly because of the man who evangelizes them the most – CEO Steve Jobs. You can't ignore how much he cares about his pitch. His enthusiasm and passion demand reaction, whether its positive or negative. The one thing you can't do is remain passive when he speaks.

What about your own presentations? How does your audience see you? Are you viewed as someone just presenting material that is expected to be presented in a totally mundane, dispassionate, and predictable manner? Are you excited about your topics? Do you communicate that excitement in your presentation? Passion connects. Passion engages. Be passionate during your talks, and your audience will respond with greater enthusiasm for whatever topic you are presenting about.

Tags: steve jobs, examples, atmosphere, impression, connections, speaking

In my very first post on this blog, I emphasized the importance of trying to be concise with one's material. There are many examples of long, very engaging presentations, but, for the most part, you don't want to make a habit out of speaking for long stretches of time.



No matter your intentions, though, avoid beginning your presentation with something like this: "I'm only going to keep you for a little while;" "I'm planning on keeping this short;" or "This won't take long." Think back about talks you've heard starting with similar phrases. What's the common theme? Chances are most to all of them did take a long time.

I think we try to talk ourselves into believing our presentation is not as long as it really is. With good intentions, we try to fool ourselves and the audience about the time we are going to spend, but telling an audience that your talk is going to be short does not make the talk feel shorter. In fact, the opposite is true. The time you take to deliver your material will seem even more prolonged due to the expectation you planted in the minds of your audience.

Long or short, if your talk is engaging, length is relative. Don't sabotage yourself by planting a false expectation before you begin.

Tags: time use, speaking

You just finished your presentation. you gave your summation, and now you launch into the question-and-answer section. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the questions fizzle out, and the crowd trickles away. Is this really how you want to conclude your talk?

In my last post (about summations), I stated that your summation is important because it leaves a final impression on your audience. This is only true, though, if the summation is the last thing that happens. If you save the Q&A for the conclusion, that will leave the final impression. Unfortunately, presentations that end with Q&A sessions often end on an uncertain note because there is little sense of closure. No matter how strong the overall session, a concluding Q&A can weaken the overall experience.

The solution? Conduct the Q&A before the summation. I've gotten into the habit of wrapping up my final point, launching into a timed question/answer session, then delivering my summation. Make sure you have contact information on your handout because you will likely not get to everyone's questions, but this allows the conversational portion of the presentation to take place under controlled settings. (Timing the Q&A also helps with schedule management.)

Once you conclude the Q&A, you can launch into the summation and wrap up your presentation with a definitive conclusion. As a result, you and your audience will walk away feeling better about your presentation.

Tags: time use, atmosphere, speaking

One speaker whom I've really begun to appreciate (much to my own surprise) is Al Gore, self-described as having "used to be the next president of the United States." Recently, he has been evangelizing a message of conservation and energy reform in response to what he coins "The Climate Crisis." Additionally, this presentation has been turned into a documentary called An Inconvenient Truth.

Recently, I downloaded a video of Mr. Gore giving a follow-up talk to his crisis presentation at TED where he covers some pragmatic ways in which his audience can make a difference. (If you watch the video, please keep in mind that he is speaking to an audience consisting mostly of rather affluent people.) However, I couldn't help but be distracted by the amount of "back time" Mr. Gore was giving to his audience – time he spent looking at his slides rather than at his listeners.

I see this all too often during presentations where the presenter uses his or her slides as a crutch or as a substitute for notes. Unfortunately, if we spend too much time with our back to the audience, we will create a disconnect with them, and they will pay us less attention.

First and foremost, your talk is a conversation with your audience – not with PowerPoint. You should know your material well enough (and have good enough notes) that looking back at your slides is all but unnecessary. (I do check my slides periodically to see that things are running smoothly, though.)

Now, in Mr. Gore's defense, during the video, it does sound like this talk was prepared very hastily. This is probably a case where he has to lean on his slides some because of short preparation time. Still, when you know you have a talk coming, and you have ample time to prepare, prepare well, so your eyes can connect with your audience rather than remain glued to your slides.

Tags: al gore, TED, examples, connections, speaking

Through the character of Zaphod Beeblebrox, Douglas Adams once wrote, "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I do not know the answer." How such wise words came from the two-headed, egocentric President of the Galaxy is beyond me, but there it is.

Have you ever seen a teacher, instructor, or presenter clearly talk around in circles after a question, and it's apparent that the speaker just plain doesn't know the answer? Have you ever been stymied by a question yet found yourself babbling through something that almost resembles an answer? I know I have (on both counts).

I think one of the toughest lessons in public speaking is that "I don't know" is an acceptable answer. Your brain has finite capacity, and you will miss things or forget things in your research and preparation. You don't have to save face by responding with an unsatisfactory answer.

In a presentation setting, try something like this: "That's a great question, but I don't think I can give you a good answer right now. Can you give me your email address, so I can contact you later?" Assuming you follow through, you avoid looking silly, you buy yourself some time to supply a good answer, and you give the issue closure.

You don't know everything, and you can't fool your audience into thinking you do. If you get a question that you don't know the answer to, think back to our friend Zaphod.

Tags: conventions, speaking