mm Nothing at all about the art of rhetoric and how to do public speaking well though you could try watching
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-art-of-rhet...
What They Don't Tell You About Public Speaking
61–64 of 64 posts
Re: What They Don't Tell You About Public Speaking
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
#1: Yes, yes I am going to modify my speech. Or use the reply to weave in an anecdote, or do something with that info. Otherwise, you would be right, and it would be an exercise in futility. #2: Absolutely. It's better if you can do without, but it's also a matter of how much time you have to prepare, and how dense the material is. If I'm giving a hard-core technical talk for 45 minutes, I'll sure as heck have a few…
Okay, what if you were speaking to an audience on a live national broadcast? Would you ask for a show of hands? What if you were talking to an arena of 20,000 people? Would you ask for a show of hands?
Neither you nor the original article refer to any audience to even close of that size. I also wouldn't ask for a show of hands if I gave the President a national security briefing, or if I made first contact with aliens.
Can we agree that those situations are uncommon for most people on HN and focus on the kinds of talks we usually give around here?
Re: What They Don't Tell You About Public Speaking
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd go so far as to say you absolutely don't want to memorize your speech, unless you're at the level of Important Remarks for Important People like the State of the Union. Instead, you want to memorize all the key features, jokes, and wry remarks. You can write out your speech, if it helps. But read it. Out loud. To a wall. About ten or fifteen times. Read it, without looking at the paper (except when you forget wha…
To extend your point on key features: I think of it as memorizing the overall structure of your talk. You may have a dozen or so topics you want to hit in your presentation, and that is what you end of memorizing - not on purpose, but because if you're well prepared, you can't help but not memorize it. If you know that you want to hit points A, B, C, ..., in your talk, and you know your material cold, then you don't…
I've given more than a few public talks, and I ran for Lieutenant Governor of NC a few years ago, and did some campaign speeches as part of that... what I have found is that they key is to be able to improvise your entire talk if need be. That is, if you know the points you want to make, and a rough order you want to make them in, you can construct the talk as you go if need be. Then you never have to worry about "forgetting your lines" or whatever. If you can develop this ability to give a speech totally unscripted, you can then choose whether or not you want to use notes or whatever to help you stick more precisely to the plan... but in the worst case, you're never totally screwed with no ability to proceed.
FWIW, when I ran for office, I never memorized a single speech, nor did I use notes. I mentally rehearsed the key points and structure on the way to the venue, and then improvised. Take the fact that I didn't get elected however you want, vis-a-vis the effectiveness of my approach. :-)
Re: What They Don't Tell You About Public Speaking
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd go so far as to say you absolutely don't want to memorize your speech, unless you're at the level of Important Remarks for Important People like the State of the Union. Instead, you want to memorize all the key features, jokes, and wry remarks. You can write out your speech, if it helps. But read it. Out loud. To a wall. About ten or fifteen times. Read it, without looking at the paper (except when you forget wha…
To extend your point on key features: I think of it as memorizing the overall structure of your talk. You may have a dozen or so topics you want to hit in your presentation, and that is what you end of memorizing - not on purpose, but because if you're well prepared, you can't help but not memorize it. If you know that you want to hit points A, B, C, ..., in your talk, and you know your material cold, then you don't…
Yup. The key in public speaking is indeed "confidence", but that single word just doesn't sufficiently explain anything.
It's confidence in your ability to convey your point. It's confidence that your knowledge of the topic is solid. It's confidence that your audience is capable of understanding you. It's confidence that you've put the time and effort into making sure that all the previous stuff is true.