{"id":11442,"date":"2017-01-04T16:34:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T16:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/?p=11442"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:59:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:59:11","slug":"get-better-public-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, one of our readers emailed us to ask: \u201cWhat advice would you give someone who\u2019s just getting started with public speaking?\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s a lot to this question, so I’ll break into a few areas.<\/p>\n

Pick your topics wisely<\/h2>\n

You should only choose topics where you can speak with a good degree of confidence, and that your audience will want to hear about. Beware of events that would require you to drop one of these requirements.<\/p>\n

Confidence usually comes from both research and experience. For folks early in their career this means deep talks on specific areas, rather than broad “state of the nation” type talks that require a lot more credibility to pull off. For example, if you’re an engineer early in your career don’t try to give a TED style talk about “How software engineering is changing the world”. The likelihood of you delivering that with credibility and impact is pretty low. Instead, start with a specific topic where you have credibility e.g. a library, a language, a method, etc.<\/p>\n

With a few notable exceptions most talks will either be deep or broad, and educational or inspirational. With enough time and experience a great speaker can leave you with all four, but they tend to be rare. The biggest mistake here is not making a choice at all.<\/p>\n

Get comfortable with small empty rooms<\/h2>\n

My earliest public talks were to groups of 20 to 40 people, often less. It’s certainly not what you dream of, but it’s an important stepping stone. You’re gonna screw up early on, so best do it in front of a small group of people, not at an event live-streamed to thousands.<\/p>\n

These events are where you can make your mistakes and learn the arcane Keynote knowledge. It\u2019s where you learn things like how HDMI to Mini DisplayPort cables will break and where to buy a replacement with an hour to go, what to do when your laptop is low on battery during a presentation, how to use Keynote Presenter View, and why you should never<\/em> rely on Speaker Notes.<\/p>\n

Build your own social proof<\/h2>\n

You can actually build your own speaking resume without having a stage. Blog posts are a great way of doing that. A lot of the time when I’m speaking, it’s actually blog posts turned into a presentation, or vice-versa.<\/p>\n

As an example, Benedict Evans<\/a> has given great talks to his laptop and published it online. So when people tell me they can’t find their “first speaking event”, I tell them it’s right in front of them. A talk like Benedict’s has instant global distribution and undoubtedly gets them more requests as speakers.<\/p>\n

Having material like this to point to also means when you ask somebody to speak at their conference or meetup you can clearly say, “Here’s the type of topics I can cover\u201d. Recording them also also helps you cut out the \u201cums\u201d and \u201cahs” and polish your delivery a lot.<\/p>\n

Public speaking isn’t about the slides<\/h2>\n

There is a broken assumption that public speaking means a deck of 20 slides and a glowing screen behind you. Many times you don’t need any slides at all, you might just need one image or some bullet points on a piece of paper. In fact, an over-reliance on slides will take the power from your message. Just look at what happens when you put The Gettysburg address into Powerpoint.<\/p>\n

\"gettysburg<\/p>\n

Credit: Peter Norvig<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t obsess about your slides early on. It\u2019s less about the formatting of your information and more about the story you\u2019re trying to tell. The best book in this regard is Resonate<\/em><\/a> by Nancy Duarte. Once you know the story and how you\u2019re going to communicate it, then you can start reading Presentation Zen<\/em><\/a> by Garr Reynolds which will help you visualize your story.<\/p>\n

There’s lots more to public speaking, but the above four areas are a good place to start.<\/p>\n

\n

If you’re looking for some more advice on public speaking, you’ll enjoy our recent podcast with Etsy’s Lara Hogan, author of Demystifying Public Speaking<\/em>. Check it out<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, one of our readers emailed us to ask: \u201cWhat advice would you give someone who\u2019s just getting started with public speaking?\u201d There’s a lot to this question, so I’ll break into a few areas.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[12897],"tags":[],"coauthors":[348],"class_list":["post-11442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing"],"yoast_head":"\nQ&A: How to get better at public speaking - The Intercom Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether preparing for a conference talk or a team meeting, public speaking is an essential skill. Des Traynor shares his advice on doing it right.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether preparing for a conference talk or a team meeting, public speaking is an essential skill. Des Traynor shares his advice on doing it right.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Intercom Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/destraynor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-04T16:34:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-30T11:59:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1968\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"932\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Des Traynor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@destraynor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@intercom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Des Traynor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Des Traynor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eca2beed88876408030509097abe63c2\"},\"headline\":\"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-04T16:34:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:59:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Engagement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/\",\"name\":\"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking - The Intercom Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-04T16:34:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:59:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Whether preparing for a conference talk or a team meeting, public speaking is an essential skill. Des Traynor shares his advice on doing it right.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/get-better-public-speaking\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg\",\"width\":1968,\"height\":932},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Intercom Blog\",\"description\":\"Articles and Podcasts on Customer Service, AI and Automation, Product, and more\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Intercom Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"The Intercom Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/intercominc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/intercom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/intercom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/2491343\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.ie\\\/intercom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCJG0MvLP03kyzzAkD-w98aQ\",\"https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Intercom_(company)\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eca2beed88876408030509097abe63c2\",\"name\":\"Des Traynor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/09e398a496ac2704b5a250c7e1aa65b160bb3650bb5bd89ed26723898ee32b30?s=96&d=mm&r=pg2b6d61a5289bb1233dbc5e2b0420fffb\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/09e398a496ac2704b5a250c7e1aa65b160bb3650bb5bd89ed26723898ee32b30?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/09e398a496ac2704b5a250c7e1aa65b160bb3650bb5bd89ed26723898ee32b30?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Des Traynor\"},\"description\":\"Des leads Intercom's R&D org and oversees its product strategy. He often speaks about product and growth strategies at conferences worldwide, including SaaStr, Web Summit, and The Next Web. He's also the host of the Intercom on Product podcast. Prior to Intercom he co-founded Exceptional and worked in UX design.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/destraynor\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/destraynor\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/des\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking - The Intercom Blog","description":"Whether preparing for a conference talk or a team meeting, public speaking is an essential skill. Des Traynor shares his advice on doing it right.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking","og_description":"Whether preparing for a conference talk or a team meeting, public speaking is an essential skill. Des Traynor shares his advice on doing it right.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/","og_site_name":"The Intercom Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/destraynor","article_published_time":"2017-01-04T16:34:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-30T11:59:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1968,"height":932,"url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Des Traynor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@destraynor","twitter_site":"@intercom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Des Traynor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/"},"author":{"name":"Des Traynor","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eca2beed88876408030509097abe63c2"},"headline":"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking","datePublished":"2017-01-04T16:34:23+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-30T11:59:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/"},"wordCount":714,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg","articleSection":["Customer Engagement"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/","name":"Q&A: How to get better at public speaking - The Intercom Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-04T16:34:23+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-30T11:59:11+00:00","description":"Whether preparing for a conference talk or a team meeting, public speaking is an essential skill. Des Traynor shares his advice on doing it right.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/get-better-public-speaking\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg","width":1968,"height":932},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/","name":"The Intercom Blog","description":"Articles and Podcasts on Customer Service, AI and Automation, Product, and more","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Intercom Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Intercom-logo-sq-black-trans.png","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"The Intercom Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc","https:\/\/x.com\/intercom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/intercom\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/2491343","https:\/\/www.pinterest.ie\/intercom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCJG0MvLP03kyzzAkD-w98aQ","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intercom_(company)"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eca2beed88876408030509097abe63c2","name":"Des Traynor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09e398a496ac2704b5a250c7e1aa65b160bb3650bb5bd89ed26723898ee32b30?s=96&d=mm&r=pg2b6d61a5289bb1233dbc5e2b0420fffb","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09e398a496ac2704b5a250c7e1aa65b160bb3650bb5bd89ed26723898ee32b30?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09e398a496ac2704b5a250c7e1aa65b160bb3650bb5bd89ed26723898ee32b30?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Des Traynor"},"description":"Des leads Intercom's R&D org and oversees its product strategy. He often speaks about product and growth strategies at conferences worldwide, including SaaStr, Web Summit, and The Next Web. He's also the host of the Intercom on Product podcast. Prior to Intercom he co-founded Exceptional and worked in UX design.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/destraynor","https:\/\/x.com\/destraynor"],"url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/author\/des\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Intercom_QA_Logo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=11442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11442"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}