#11: Public speaking.
🪑 🐜
🪑Around 1988, when I was in primary school, we had a school event. I can’t recall the occasion, but I had to read a speech in front of the whole school, about seven hundred people.
I got my speech, practiced reading it and all, but there was only a short practice run to make sure I can speak in the microphone.
And then just before my turn, the sound guy decided he doesn’t want to keep adjusting the mike height, so instead of lowering the mike, he made me stand on a chair. I’ve never been so embarrassed, scared, or stressed in my life. I vividly remember those moments of terror, and my heart still races when I imagine what I went through. I felt dizzy, shaking, and was sure I won’t survive it.
Well, I survived, and as soon as I started my first job, I decided to face my fears. Every time I had to stand in front of an audience, no matter how big or small, I felt the same stress, speeding heart rate, and sweat. So I volunteered to present more, and with time learned how to calm myself down. It had everything to do with the preparation, and whatever you think when you hear the word over-prepared, multiply it by 10. This helped with the initial confidence, and later it turned into a general joy of public speaking.
I enjoy the stage. The thing is, when you’re standing up, you command the audience. It’s like holding a remote control. Regardless of the size of the crowd, when you’re on stage, you’re in charge. Try it once when on stage — ask everyone to stand up, then to sit down, and to stand up again. Everybody obeys, it’s how the masses work.
Maybe that’s what we’re afraid of,— standing up means stepping out of the pack, out of the safety of the mass. Once you’re picked, you’re on the line, you have to deliver. The moments of truth.
The whole trick is in the preparation, knowing your material, and being honest about what you don’t know. —Don’t fake it till you make it, not while on stage.
Preparation is a form of respect towards yourself and your audience. I always think about who is going to be sitting in there, what are they looking for, how I want them to feel. And I rarely deliver boilerplate corporate presentations — each of my decks is curated for that particular audience. That helps with the delivery, the flow, the whole spiel. I’ll do the same for the decks delivered remotely via Zoom.
Couple of things I’ll go through every time, regardless if it’s a live or a digital presentation:
3 key messages. This is the golden rule. Never try to make people go away with your Top 10 things. Nobody ever remembered that much, even Moses had to write them down.
Not more than half the slides vs. minutes of presentation slot (e.g. max 10 slides for a 20-minute speech).
Max. 3 bullet points/pillars/boxes per slide. The text is a killer. Less is more. Zero is the best. If your deck can be read through without you talking, then it shouldn’t be a live presentation; it should be an email.
Build out the slides with clicks. Never show the whole slide at once, then everyone focuses on reading through, not paying attention to you.
Run through your slides in the Presentation Mode, not Edit mode. See how everything works. Don’t use transitions, and only one type of animations are acceptable (Appear — On click).
Once you’re done, cut out another 10-20% of the material. Leave only the bare minimum. Don’t try to communicate everything. Leave the audience with questions, that inspire thinking and follow-ups.
Test the equipment before going live. Check the computer, the clicker, audio. Step on the stage if possible, feel the room.
Remove Thank You slide. You are better than that.
When you have more than 20 people in the audience, never finish with a version of Are there any questions. —Offer to talk during the breaks, or invite the audience to your booth and/or to talk to your colleagues (introduce them).
These are some of the basic principles I follow. I still get nervous before stepping on stage, but now it feels more like excitement. The moment I’m ON, something clicks, and I get in the flow. It’s like a drug.
This topic came up as my daughter is finishing primary school on Monday, and I’ll be delivering a short speech at the final ceremony. This brings me back the whole circle from that 1988 incident. It’s a different school, a smaller audience, and I’m a different person now. But when it comes to fear, we never grow up. That scared little boy is still in there. I just hope they won’t make me stand on a chair.
Turn your fears into strengths and find joy in whatever you do.
🐜 Teamwork.
Stay Hungry; Stay Foolish.
🧘♂️☕️⌨️🏃🚴🛠🌱👨👩👧👦📖🧠🛌