How to Prepare for a Public Speech: 8 Tips from a GitHub Speaker

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

"Imagine the audience naked" is idiotic advice. It is simple, but rarely works. We've picked eight of the best tips from a GitHub employee who has spoken at dozens of conferences and is willing to share his experience.

Recently we came across a service. Its creator is Zach Holman, one of the GitHub contributors. During his tenure, he has spoken at dozens of conferences and gained a lot of experience in public speaking. Therefore, he decided to create the Speaking service, which contains tips on how to properly conduct a conversation, express his thoughts and prepare for a speech. These tips are helpful and we decided to pick the best ones.

Preparing for the performance

Holman recalls a speaker he remembered for his entire life:

Several years ago I was at a conference. The organizers invited a professional storyteller to it. He did not say a single word on the topic of the conference, but the entire audience was so involved in his conversation that it was not necessary.

Storytellers learn this skill by repeating the same phrases. Think back to your favorite stand-up artist. Most likely, after he said a particularly good joke, he will mention it later. This method allows him to achieve a stronger connection with the audience.

It is also important to summarize the results of each section of your speech. This method was used by Steve Jobs at all Apple conferences. He expressed the main ideas, then explained them in detail, and then, at the end of the section, made a short summary on the topic of his speech.

Performance plan

Once you have an idea for a presentation, this is just the beginning. Turning an idea into a whole speech is not easy. The best place to start is with a plan. And move from more to less. For example, let's say you're about to make a presentation about 70s rock music. First you need to make a general plan:

1. Introduction.
2. First part: culture of the 70s.
3. The second part: why the society chose these particular musical styles.
4. The third part: the best representatives of rock music of the 70s.
5. Conclusion.

Having drawn up a general plan, you can proceed to the sub-points, explaining each point in more detail:

1. Introduction.

2. First part: culture of the 70s.

   a) Hippie society and its principles.

   b) The development of psychedelic rock due to the popularization of hippies.

Etc. Moving from more to less, you will be able to explain each point consistently and not forget about the details. Don't make the paragraphs too big - they should suggest a topic, but not explain it.

It is possible that you will not be able to fit all the points of the plan into speech, but by creating a plan, you will clearly express your thoughts and understand how to turn an idea into a presentation.

Slides

Holman said he saw speakers who could fit several hundred slides into a half-hour speech. He also saw those who did without a single slide. Both are examples of bad presentations. In the first case, the listeners will not remember a small fraction of the information received, in the second, they cannot support the words they heard with visual information.

There is no ideal number of slides for a presentation. Their number depends on how you present information.

The best way to understand the optimal number of slides is to give multiple presentations. For some, it is enough that there are only a few words on the slide, and the speaker can continue to expand on the topic. Others need more information.

The number of slides also depends on the theme of the presentation. If it is related, for example, to IT, there should be more slides; if it's more like a story, you can get by with less.

Pauses in speech

Another trick that Jobs loved to use. When asking a question, he made a short pause before answering it. This is quite awkward for the speaker, because there is silence in the audience, but it is very effective. You make the audience think that you are thinking about the answer to the question in real time, rather than having it prepared in advance.

Pauses are also good before moving on to the next point in the conversation. The pause length is 3-5 seconds. If you find it too embarrassing to be silent, fool yourself and take a sip of water.

Animating slide transitions

Do not try.

Best presentation software

You don't need to be zealous with finding a program. If you're using Windows, choose PowerPoint, if you're using OS X, then Keynote. There are alternatives, but they are intended for those who are planning a complex presentation. For example, it allows you to create slides using Markdown, JavaScript and CSS.

How to deal with nerves

You will be nervous, even speaking for the tenth or twentieth time. But the duration of this state will decrease. According to Holman, during his first presentation, he was out of his mind from the beginning to the end of the presentation. The next time he spoke, he was less nervous, and then less and less.

Another way to deal with nerves is to give a test presentation to employees. Moreover, the conditions should be as close as possible to the present. If you hesitate or forget a phrase, your employees will be able to cheer you up.

Finishing touches

Before going out to the audience, there are a few things you need to do:

1. Switch your smartphone to silent mode. And even better - in the "Airplane" mode, since the random vibration can distract you.
2. Disable auto brightness and set brightness to maximum. If your presentation notes are on a smartphone or tablet, adjust the brightness so that you can read them comfortably.
3. Customize the presenter monitor. This is a secondary monitor in Keynote that shows your annotations, current and next slides, and a timer.