For almost as long, I\u2019ve been working behind the scenes, helping colleagues hone their material and practice their delivery.<\/p>\n
This is my attempt to distill everything I\u2019ve learned down to a few key areas in an organized and useful way. Hopefully, you\u2019ll find tips on public speaking you won\u2019t see elsewhere and discover inspirational resources along the way.<\/p>\n
Why are talks important?<\/h2>\n
Talks serve many practical purposes. They are important for promoting the ideas behind a company or making a pitch for capital<\/a>. Content can be \u2013 and I would argue should be \u2013 a core component of your marketing strategy and can serve as a growth engine for your business<\/a>. Like any other type of content, talks are a key tool in communicating who you are and what you\u2019re about, as well as articulating what your company does and why. In particular, they help you connect with the community, build personal relationships with folks in relevant industries and share knowledge with other people.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you pay attention to each of these steps, you\u2019ll be well on your way to having a great presentation\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Writing a good talk involves three key stages: before writing<\/em>, while writing<\/em> and after writing<\/em>, each with their own important steps. I break these stages down into 10 key areas:<\/p>\n Before writing<\/em><\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Getting started<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Inspiration<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Ideation<\/p>\n While writing<\/em><\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Drafting<\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Preparing your slides<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Adding richness to slides and content<\/p>\n After writing<\/em><\/p>\n 7.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Dry runs<\/p>\n 8.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Rehearsing<\/p>\n 9.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Stage presence<\/p>\n 10.<\/strong> <\/span>Iteration<\/p>\n Obviously, these steps can overlap \u2013 you may still be drafting pieces of your talk during a dry run, for example (it happens). But if you pay attention to each of these steps, you\u2019ll be well on your way to having a great presentation.<\/p>\n One of the biggest questions I get asked is, \u201cWhat do I write about?\u201d The cliched answer is to write what you know, but I suggest starting from a different place.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re getting started with public speaking, you should always begin with your audience. If you don\u2019t have one yet, start by writing your content for people like you and start by expecting your audience to be small. Many people want to jump straight into the conference circuit or are waiting for someone to recommend them to speak on the conference circuit.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one starts on the big stage, we all start in a small room with just a few people listening (maybe)\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You don\u2019t have to wait, and you don\u2019t have to speak at a conference to get started. They can be good forcing functions, but you don\u2019t need them to begin to find your audience. Look for meetups and other easy, low effort<\/em> ways like blogging to begin to build your content and work your way up. Start with a cupcake<\/a>, and build up your content to the birthday cake. No one starts on the big stage, we all start in a small room with just a few people listening (maybe).<\/p>\n You should draw inspiration from a variety of sources. Always be on the lookout for speaking styles you like. Draw from comedy, politics, Ted talks, podcasts, TV shows and movies. Check out industries other than the one you\u2019re in. What are they doing?<\/p>\n Find people you adore. Pay attention to what works, what doesn\u2019t work, what they do say and what they don\u2019t<\/em>. Adapt what you learn to your personality. You\u2019re not going to be Michelle Obama, but if you admire her inspirational speaking style, figure out what makes her inspirational. How does she talk about her ideas? This is something you can learn from and mimic.<\/p>\n Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is figure out what to talk about and how to talk about it. Where should you start building content from?<\/p>\n It helps to think first and foremost about your audience:<\/p>\n One way to help define your talk is to decide how inspirational or educational you want it to be. In the tech industry, there\u2019s a lot of educational talks, but don\u2019t forget that there are other ways to give great talks. You can map this out on a grid, like so:<\/p>\n The worst talks are neither educational nor inspirational. Symptoms will often include an over-reliance on text, hard to follow next steps and normally no overarching point.<\/p>\n Educational talks will have lots of actionable advice for the audience, but are often prone to focusing on the how and not the why. That said, the best examples can leave an audience feeling deeply informed \u2013 Des\u2019s “Lessons learned from scaling a team<\/a>” is an excellent example of a largely educational talk.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best talks are a mixture of educational and inspirational, big picture concepts and micro examples\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Inspirational talks will have lots of big picture: \u201cHere\u2019s a struggle that I overcame, you can do it too!\u201d You\u2019ll often leave feeling inspired and motivated, but may not necessarily know how to direct that energy. The most famous Ted Talks are usually great examples. One of my favorite mainly inspirational talks is Wilson Milner\u2019s “When we build<\/a>.”<\/p>\n The best talks are a mixture of educational and inspirational, big picture concepts and micro examples that all weave together to form the narrative tapestry. Amy Cuddy\u2019s “Your body language may shape who you are<\/a>” does a great job at this.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note that it can take years to get to this point. Think big, start small.<\/p>\n As you write, remember that your talk is not about you.<\/em> It\u2019s about your audience. It\u2019s about how they want to feel and what they want to get out of your talk. If you can connect to that, people will love it.<\/p>\n Good talks are not about that time you built a cool new tool in your job. They are about what your audience can learn<\/em> from that time you built that cool new tool. Every story you tell should connect to either what the audience wants to feel or something they can learn from. This is the perspective you should have as you write.<\/p>\n For a while before you give your talk, keep track of the things you want to say. Bookmark things you want to include like tweets and other artefacts. Once you\u2019ve got some good ideas, then you can begin to pick out a structure. The most common is a three-act style, with an introduction, body and conclusion.<\/p>\n The second act will constitute the bulk of the material, so distill your ideas down to three main points<\/a>. Less than three seems incomplete, and more than three is harder to remember. A good way to visualize your three main points is to write them out on a triangle. As for the introduction and conclusion, write those last.<\/p>\n If you put this down on paper (your introduction, 3 points and conclusion), you will see your idea taking the shape of a traditional story arc<\/a>. You don\u2019t need to reinvent the wheel \u2013 there are a number of narrative structures<\/a> that can help convey your points.<\/p>\n Most people think preparing a talk is all about doing slides. But that\u2019s fundamentally wrong \u2013 the phase where you translate your draft into a presentation in Keynote or PowerPoint is actually a crucial moment where the core of your message gets refined and distilled, and thus you need to focus not on transitions or animations, but on paring the essence of your message into slide form.<\/p>\n This step is about getting the bare minimum amount of material in the presentation so you can go on stage, but remember that slides exist only to serve your narrative; they are one prop among many.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re using Keynote, PowerPoint or (oh no!) Google Slides, bear these basic rules in mind so as to help you focus on what really matters.<\/p>\n Less is more when it comes to your slides, and it\u2019s far more important to focus on getting the basics of the narrative and presentation just right. Once you\u2019re confident you\u2019re reached that point, there are a few things to consider to add richness to your slides and content.<\/p>\n Animation in any presentation can be easily overdone. Any animation should always serve a purpose. Interaction designer Kit Oliynyk breaks down his guiding principles of UI animation here<\/a> and sorts animations into the following categories, which apply to presentation animation as well:<\/p>\n Another way to make your content feel richer and more relevant is to incorporate something topical. Consider referencing other aspects of the conference or timely events:<\/p>\n The best thing to do when practicing is to recreate the environment you\u2019re going to be in as much as possible. Practicing in a small room, or in front of a mirror might seem like the right thing to do, but it\u2019s better to find a space with a projector, get familiar with using a clicker and walking across a stage, even if it\u2019s a makeshift one.<\/p>\n Your dry runs don\u2019t have to be perfect. When you screw up, keep going. Build resilience. Things will go wrong in the actual presentation, so be prepared for that as much as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cPractice everything from how you enter the stage all the way through to exiting the stage\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is a good time to edit your content. It might be the first time you\u2019re saying things aloud, and you\u2019ll find that some things work and some really don\u2019t.<\/p>\n I\u2019d recommend at least two to three full dry runs on different days. Practice everything from how you enter the stage all the way through to exiting the stage. Thank whoever introduces you when you get on stage, and thank the audience for their time before you leave it.<\/p>\n To imagine your audience, place 5 post-it notes with smiley faces around the room, and as you\u2019re practicing, try to make eye contact with your \u201caudience.\u201d<\/p>\n Most people know it\u2019s important to seek feedback, especially when giving a public presentation. But who you seek feedback from matters just as much as asking for it. One of the biggest mistakes I see speakers make is to seek feedback from their team, or a group of people they work closely with every day.<\/p>\n Obviously, your team can be a good place to get feedback on the facts of your talk and to validate your ideas. Is what you\u2019re saying factually correct? Are you making sense? These are good questions to ask your team.<\/p>\n However, you are much better off seeking feedback from people you know who are good speakers<\/em>. Other talented speakers will be able to give you helpful feedback on how to present your ideas or reframe your stories to be more impactful in the context of a stage.<\/p>\n When it comes to talks, everyone is nervous. You\u2019ve probably heard this before, but it really is true. Seasoned speakers get nervous. Speaking coaches get nervous. Think of the best talk you\u2019ve ever heard, and I guarantee you that person was likely nervous.<\/p>\n The only \u201cspeaking hack\u201d you need to know is to increase the volume of your voice. Raising your voice has two distinct advantages:<\/p>\n This adjustment is the #1 thing you can do to improve your stage presence almost immediately.<\/p>\n You should never give a talk just once. If you are giving your talk at an event, only the people viewing the event will have seen it. Most of the time that means you can bring your content elsewhere, and it will be viewed with fresh eyes, even if it\u2019s not new to you.<\/p>\n Talks are really just conversations. While talks might seem like monologues or one-to-many broadcasts of ideas, that\u2019s not entirely true. The very best talks generate conversation and \/ or participate in an existing conversation that\u2019s already happening. These conversations can happen on Twitter and in real life after you finish speaking.<\/p>\n \u201cPrepare ahead of time for luck to turn against you and adapt on the day\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You want people to respond to you, and you want as many people to respond to you as possible, even if they don\u2019t agree with you, or especially if they don\u2019t agree with you. This is where you can learn the most, and then refine your content. Use people\u2019s responses to figure out what you should say next time. Encourage people to come talk to you and use what you\u2019ve learned to refine your content. What worked? What didn\u2019t work?<\/p>\n Now that you have a talk, it\u2019s really easy to add new content in and remove outdated content, rather than writing a whole new talk. You can then give this new and improved version at other events and expose your ideas to new people.<\/p>\n I want to leave you with one last thought, and that is about Murphy’s law<\/a>. Sometimes, it feels like anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It absolutely applies to every conference, and just in the events I have worked on, all of these things have actually happened: the lighting guy had an off day and kept missing the speaker; another speaker got food poisoning; a presentation was prepared in Keynote, and the conference only used PowerPoint; the clicker malfunctioned. The list goes on and on.<\/p>\n Prepare ahead of time for luck to turn against you and adapt on the day.<\/p>\n As they say here in Ireland, you\u2019ll be grand :) Good luck! \ud83c\udf40<\/p>\n Because it’s impossible to cover everything I wanted to share some extra resources:<\/p>\n Animation resources:<\/p>\n Writing a good talk involves three key stages: before writing, while writing and after writing, which can be further broken down into 10 key steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":20755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[12897],"tags":[],"coauthors":[607],"class_list":["post-20754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing"],"yoast_head":"\nBefore you write your talk<\/h2>\n
1. How to get started<\/h3>\n
2. Finding inspiration<\/h3>\n
3. Ideation<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/inspirational_vs_educational.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAs you write your talk<\/h2>\n
4. Drafting your talk<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/triangle-e1561562940789.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/story-arc.gif\")
<\/p>\n5. Preparing your slides \u2013 prioritize the basics<\/h3>\n
\n
6. Adding richness to your slides and content<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
After you write your talk<\/h2>\n
7. Dry runs: Practicing on your own<\/h3>\n
8. Rehearsals: Practicing with others<\/h3>\n
9. Improving your stage presence<\/h3>\n
\n
10. Iterating on your content<\/h3>\n
A final thought: Murphy\u2019s law<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n