I'm always surprised by the amount of advises in rehearsal.
I like to give public speaches, but I organize myself completely differently. I spend much time making Slides that are easy to follow and logically ordered, and in each I know that I can say a little more or a little less without disrupting the message. I know that I can count on 1 slide = 1 min. Unless lots of images.
I don't rehearse as I know that I prepared well my slides. Then during the talk I add more or less informations naturally depending on the time left and on the facial expressions of the audience. I usually finish exactly on time.
Usually I read my slides and think about what exactly to say only just before the talk.
I find this way more natural, and less scripted, and I usually get compliments on my presentation and naturalness. I think rehearsing removes much of the naturalness of a talk, unless that aspect is worked extensively, but that could sound a little too scripted for my taste.
One trick that I use often if I tend to forget some information that is important to say, is to put one word that trigger the information IN the slide, but in very light Grey, and in a natural place, like close to an image. So if I ever forget what to say, I have my landmarks in each slide to guide me.
This approach can work for experienced speakers, in particular if you have spoken about the given topic before, but I'd strongly advise against not rehearsing for folks a bit newer into their speaking career. So often I have seen talks where folks either were time after half of their time slot, or they ran out of time towards the end. Or they lost track of the plot, went off on a tangent for way too long, etc.
All this is not great for the audience (who have "invested" into your session, by paying for the ticket, spending time away from work and family, not attending other concurrent sessions, etc.), and it can so easily be avoided by rehearsing.
The most common reason I have seen for folks skipping to rehearse is the awkward feeling you might have when speaking loud all by yourself. If that's the issue, it can help to do a dry run in front of colleagues. In any case, "winging it" is best reserved for later on, after having gathered quite a bit of speaking experience and having spoken about the same, or very similar, topics before.
I'd also recommend to avoid reading from slides during a talk as much as possible, it's also not a great experience for the audience. There shouldn't be much text on slides to begin with, as folks will either read that, or listen to what you say, but typically have a hard time doing both at once.
(All this is a general recommendation, not a comment on your talks which I have not seen)
I do almost your method, except I do the presentation a few times as practice to make sure the flow works. When I give the presentation it's not scripted, but since I practiced it is much easier for me to improv. My slides are typically very sparse and simply act as a trigger for which part of the topic I'm speaking on at that time.
But, to your point, I agree that your method is the best way if you know the subject matter. When I practice it's mainly for transitions/flow and not the information.
I'm similar. I treat the slides as the skeleton to my talk and I use them to set the pace and go from there. Overly rehearsed talks always feel kind of boring; going off the cuff can have a disorganized awkwardness, but if the slides are decent and the speaker is good enough at explaining them I find them a lot more fun.
I do try and work hard enough on my slides to make sure that the stuff I'm talking about is paced well enough and I do prepare a light "outline" in my brain to remember keep points that I don't want to forget to bring up (that might not be directly in the slides), but most of the words I say are improvised. I don't know if the talks I've given are "good" or not but people generally laugh at my jokes and I've generally received positive feedback at Lambda Days.
I will say, one thing that really helped me become a better speaker was lecturing for two semesters at a local university. I tend to be a very fast talker and have been most of my life, and it's easy for people to not fully hear what I have said (especially if they don't know me very well and haven't adapted to my mannerisms). When I started lecturing, I learned how to force myself to slow down so that students could understand what I said I don't lose them in the dust.
I often tend to integrate talking passionately about a topic in my head with an imaginary interlocutor. While not directly being a rehearsal in itself, it really helps with developing ideas and chaining concepts - at least for me.
I guess everyone is different in regards to handling the pressure when talking in public, but I do agree that you can feel it, most of the time, when someone rehearsed too "scholarly".
When what you’re presenting is something you have actual knowledge about, it can be easier to say what you think rather than stress about “sticking to the script.”
True of public speaking just as much as interviewing.
Many people unnecessarily stress about public speaking because they believe the script is the only thing that matters.
Though I admit there is no one size fits all when it comes to speaking.
It’s more like “plans are useless but planning is indispensable” for me. I don’t follow a script when I speak, but the rehearsal sometimes gives me the opportunity to realize when I have trouble articulating something, or it helps me pick and focus on the important pieces of anecdotes so I’m better able to land them in the actual speech.
Good advice. One of the things I suffer from is speaking too fast, and yet to find a good solution for it. I put a sticky note on my screen reminding me to slow down these days, but it only helps so much.
Another comprehensive guide for tech-speakers is https://speaking.io/ by Zach Holman.
I'm the same way, I speak super fast pretty much all the time, and it can be hard for people to understand me if they're not used to it (and I don't blame them).
What really helped for me (and I realize that this doesn't scale to everyone) was lecturing for two semesters. I had pretty good motivation to slow down when students' grades and futures depended on understanding what I'm saying.
I didn't realize how much this helped until I presented at a conference after I was finished teaching, and I realized about midway through my talk that I was speaking considerably slower than I usually did at these things, because it turns out that public speaking and lecturing aren't actually that different.
I wonder if speaking fast is a problem in and of itself. Bryan Cantrill's talks are some of the best around, and he talks very fast. For other speakers, I usually put them at 1.5x speed.
It seems to me that the problem isn't speaking fast per se, but almost speaking where you're tripping over yourself unconfidently. Bryan, for example, often does trip over his words, but he's confident in what he has to say and enunciates very clearly (he's basically yelling).
During the pandemic I made a few Youtube videos, basically public speaking without an audience. I was amazed at how hard it was, I spend hours and hours trying to speak with any confidence. Funnily enough though, at tech meetups, I'm pretty comfortable presenting in front of everyone even though I see others struggle so much. Not sure what's the difference.
Mind-body techniques provide a good solution to this.
First exercise. Breathe out. Take a full breath in for a mental count of 2. Hold for a mental count of 4. Breathe out for a mental count of 6. How do you feel?
It sounds ridiculous that this does anything. But it relaxes you because your brain recognizes the rhythm of a contented sigh - then rushes to put you in that state. Do that the moment that you stand on stage. Do it again any time you need it. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference it makes.
Next exercise. Put, commas, in. The act of standing silent is an act of control that leaves you feeling in control. Trying to slow down results in, "I'mRacing,I'mRacing, SlowDown, I've slowed down, I'mRacingAgain!" But putting in a comma makes it easy to slow down.
This has a second benefit as well. If we're feeling nervous silence is hard on us. So we put in those filler "ahs" and "ums". It is very rare for people to be conscious of how much we do that. Instead we process it subconsciously, as an awareness of anxiety. And our awareness of our own anxiety, creates more anxiety, and off we go!
And so I like to say, "Put in a pause, or you'll say your ahs!" Try it. Those commas really work.
The third thing is this. When we stand in front of an audience, most of us get a shot of adrenaline. We frame it as "social anxiety". But it's really not. It's social adrenaline. If you learn to interpret it as "on a rollercoaster" instead of "there's a tiger", it goes from scary to fun.
This takes a bit of practice. But (with the mind-body skills), less than you'd expect. And it is easy to find a place to practice if you join a local Toastmasters club.
One of the things I do to slow things down, is to plan with brutal honesty around how much a human can say, clearly, in a minute. And then assume that I’ll need 150% of that time. Have 20 minutes for a slideshow? Keep it at 4 slides - five minutes each - at 100 wpm, that’s 500 words each - but I’ll need to add more pauses in, so that’s 400 words each.
In my experience, getting over the fear of public speaking is really just an exercise in exposure therapy. There are no silver bullets.
But my advice to current and future public speakers is this: never, ever add fluff to fill the engagement time. Every audience everywhere would rather you take 33 minutes instead of 50 if those 17 minutes would have been filled with, basically, garbage information designed to fill time.
It's awful how often people think giving a talk is some kind of speech class homework. It's not. You're not graded on filling the time.
For an absolute beginner in public speaking who has fear of public speaking, I'd recommend joining Toastmasters.
A Toastmasters club is like a simulated environment for public speaking where everyone is extremely supportive. I was still anxious even I knew that at the beginning... even when everyone insisted anything was okay.
After 100+ speech giving at a club in Bellevue, now I don't feel anxious anymore speaking in front of 50+ people in a real-world situation where everyone might not be supportive. I can just get up and speak.
It's funny how our minds even work. It turns out simulation is good enough for training our minds.
The quality of public speaking is a separate aspect. Toastmasters do help with that but I can't claim I am good at it yet. But, for anxiety, I now feel almost nothing.
100% agree. Additionally Toastmasters will improve: your ability to think on your feet (a portion of the meeting is impromptu speaking); your ability to provide constructive feedback (members provide feedback on speeches delivered); and your ability to lead if so desired (every club is a volunteer organization that needs leaders to operate).
I gave nearly 100 talks this calendar year ... most are repeats where I'm invited to give a talk that people have seen elsewhere. There were about 25 different talks.
Some of the advice given in this post is universal, some is very, very specific and should be taken with a huge fistful of salt.
So assess it for yourself. Does it feel like it applies to you? Then adopt it.
Does it feel odd, alien, or simply wrong? Don't dismiss it immediately. Give it some attention, try to understand why the author is suggesting it, then decide whether or not to give it a go.
It’s different for everyone. I love public speaking but tend not to over-rehearse. Also, I prefer smaller conferences and meetups than large sprawling ones.
I love to give talks but I find I only do them at science conferences where I’ve submitted things out as an invited speaker at universities. How do I find new places to give talks about my interests?
Depends on your hobbies. I'm into cybsec, there's a ton of small events where you can either be on stage (so submit a proposal), but there is often what we call "rumps" which are usually unplanned 5 minutes talks about a subject. They're a great way to practice.
Besides that, i guess schools/student groups that seek professionals. Non-profits works as well, I did that when I was younger (advocacy).
as for #6: I also like to keep my intro light-hearted, but wouldn't straight up start with a joke. Let the audience settle in a bit, actually start listening to you and make them laugh "on slide 2" so to speak.
i gave a TED talk once. endless practice and repeated testing to make sure every line was good enough. it wasn’t great but better than any talk i had done previously.
somethingsome|2 months ago
I like to give public speaches, but I organize myself completely differently. I spend much time making Slides that are easy to follow and logically ordered, and in each I know that I can say a little more or a little less without disrupting the message. I know that I can count on 1 slide = 1 min. Unless lots of images.
I don't rehearse as I know that I prepared well my slides. Then during the talk I add more or less informations naturally depending on the time left and on the facial expressions of the audience. I usually finish exactly on time.
Usually I read my slides and think about what exactly to say only just before the talk.
I find this way more natural, and less scripted, and I usually get compliments on my presentation and naturalness. I think rehearsing removes much of the naturalness of a talk, unless that aspect is worked extensively, but that could sound a little too scripted for my taste.
One trick that I use often if I tend to forget some information that is important to say, is to put one word that trigger the information IN the slide, but in very light Grey, and in a natural place, like close to an image. So if I ever forget what to say, I have my landmarks in each slide to guide me.
gunnarmorling|2 months ago
All this is not great for the audience (who have "invested" into your session, by paying for the ticket, spending time away from work and family, not attending other concurrent sessions, etc.), and it can so easily be avoided by rehearsing.
The most common reason I have seen for folks skipping to rehearse is the awkward feeling you might have when speaking loud all by yourself. If that's the issue, it can help to do a dry run in front of colleagues. In any case, "winging it" is best reserved for later on, after having gathered quite a bit of speaking experience and having spoken about the same, or very similar, topics before.
I'd also recommend to avoid reading from slides during a talk as much as possible, it's also not a great experience for the audience. There shouldn't be much text on slides to begin with, as folks will either read that, or listen to what you say, but typically have a hard time doing both at once.
(All this is a general recommendation, not a comment on your talks which I have not seen)
matwood|2 months ago
But, to your point, I agree that your method is the best way if you know the subject matter. When I practice it's mainly for transitions/flow and not the information.
tombert|2 months ago
I do try and work hard enough on my slides to make sure that the stuff I'm talking about is paced well enough and I do prepare a light "outline" in my brain to remember keep points that I don't want to forget to bring up (that might not be directly in the slides), but most of the words I say are improvised. I don't know if the talks I've given are "good" or not but people generally laugh at my jokes and I've generally received positive feedback at Lambda Days.
I will say, one thing that really helped me become a better speaker was lecturing for two semesters at a local university. I tend to be a very fast talker and have been most of my life, and it's easy for people to not fully hear what I have said (especially if they don't know me very well and haven't adapted to my mannerisms). When I started lecturing, I learned how to force myself to slow down so that students could understand what I said I don't lose them in the dust.
doomerhunter|2 months ago
I guess everyone is different in regards to handling the pressure when talking in public, but I do agree that you can feel it, most of the time, when someone rehearsed too "scholarly".
tannerc|2 months ago
When what you’re presenting is something you have actual knowledge about, it can be easier to say what you think rather than stress about “sticking to the script.”
True of public speaking just as much as interviewing.
Many people unnecessarily stress about public speaking because they believe the script is the only thing that matters.
Though I admit there is no one size fits all when it comes to speaking.
clickety_clack|2 months ago
captn3m0|2 months ago
Another comprehensive guide for tech-speakers is https://speaking.io/ by Zach Holman.
tombert|2 months ago
What really helped for me (and I realize that this doesn't scale to everyone) was lecturing for two semesters. I had pretty good motivation to slow down when students' grades and futures depended on understanding what I'm saying.
I didn't realize how much this helped until I presented at a conference after I was finished teaching, and I realized about midway through my talk that I was speaking considerably slower than I usually did at these things, because it turns out that public speaking and lecturing aren't actually that different.
Rendello|2 months ago
It seems to me that the problem isn't speaking fast per se, but almost speaking where you're tripping over yourself unconfidently. Bryan, for example, often does trip over his words, but he's confident in what he has to say and enunciates very clearly (he's basically yelling).
During the pandemic I made a few Youtube videos, basically public speaking without an audience. I was amazed at how hard it was, I spend hours and hours trying to speak with any confidence. Funnily enough though, at tech meetups, I'm pretty comfortable presenting in front of everyone even though I see others struggle so much. Not sure what's the difference.
btilly|2 months ago
First exercise. Breathe out. Take a full breath in for a mental count of 2. Hold for a mental count of 4. Breathe out for a mental count of 6. How do you feel?
It sounds ridiculous that this does anything. But it relaxes you because your brain recognizes the rhythm of a contented sigh - then rushes to put you in that state. Do that the moment that you stand on stage. Do it again any time you need it. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference it makes.
Next exercise. Put, commas, in. The act of standing silent is an act of control that leaves you feeling in control. Trying to slow down results in, "I'mRacing,I'mRacing, SlowDown, I've slowed down, I'mRacingAgain!" But putting in a comma makes it easy to slow down.
This has a second benefit as well. If we're feeling nervous silence is hard on us. So we put in those filler "ahs" and "ums". It is very rare for people to be conscious of how much we do that. Instead we process it subconsciously, as an awareness of anxiety. And our awareness of our own anxiety, creates more anxiety, and off we go!
And so I like to say, "Put in a pause, or you'll say your ahs!" Try it. Those commas really work.
The third thing is this. When we stand in front of an audience, most of us get a shot of adrenaline. We frame it as "social anxiety". But it's really not. It's social adrenaline. If you learn to interpret it as "on a rollercoaster" instead of "there's a tiger", it goes from scary to fun.
This takes a bit of practice. But (with the mind-body skills), less than you'd expect. And it is easy to find a place to practice if you join a local Toastmasters club.
nxobject|2 months ago
rolandog|2 months ago
david_shaw|2 months ago
But my advice to current and future public speakers is this: never, ever add fluff to fill the engagement time. Every audience everywhere would rather you take 33 minutes instead of 50 if those 17 minutes would have been filled with, basically, garbage information designed to fill time.
It's awful how often people think giving a talk is some kind of speech class homework. It's not. You're not graded on filling the time.
Jnr|2 months ago
macintux|2 months ago
tanin|2 months ago
A Toastmasters club is like a simulated environment for public speaking where everyone is extremely supportive. I was still anxious even I knew that at the beginning... even when everyone insisted anything was okay.
After 100+ speech giving at a club in Bellevue, now I don't feel anxious anymore speaking in front of 50+ people in a real-world situation where everyone might not be supportive. I can just get up and speak.
It's funny how our minds even work. It turns out simulation is good enough for training our minds.
The quality of public speaking is a separate aspect. Toastmasters do help with that but I can't claim I am good at it yet. But, for anxiety, I now feel almost nothing.
FatherOfCurses|2 months ago
drsim|2 months ago
Went to my local group last week and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of speaking.
robaato|2 months ago
ColinWright|2 months ago
Some of the advice given in this post is universal, some is very, very specific and should be taken with a huge fistful of salt.
So assess it for yourself. Does it feel like it applies to you? Then adopt it.
Does it feel odd, alien, or simply wrong? Don't dismiss it immediately. Give it some attention, try to understand why the author is suggesting it, then decide whether or not to give it a go.
rednafi|2 months ago
csswizardry|2 months ago
lucidplot|2 months ago
ljlolel|2 months ago
mnky9800n|2 months ago
doomerhunter|2 months ago
Besides that, i guess schools/student groups that seek professionals. Non-profits works as well, I did that when I was younger (advocacy).
fxwin|2 months ago
joshu|2 months ago