Tips on public speaking

So this post is some specific tips for those speaking or presenting at events big and small, specifically in the world of digital and tech.

FYI I’m no expert presenter nor do this for a living; but I am both a mentor and someone who adjudicates on community awards (part of which is reviewing speaker sessions).

1 Pick a topic where you have something to share (knowledge or an opinion)

Similar to when writing a blog post, pick something where you can showcase your own thoughts. Don’t just copy something others have done, or repeat whats popular. Be different and show your passion.

Also don’t worry about “others” knowing more than you. There will be lots of others talking about similar subjects, but remember that they are talking about their experiences and knowledge, where as you will have your own view point.

2 Set an objective

This one is a key one. Take a step back and think what is it you want attendees to come away with. It could be things like:

• Understand how to use a feature
• Demonstrate the value of doing a task
• Awareness of the benefits of a tool/ process
• Knowledge so they don’t make the same mistakes that you did

Keep reminding yourself of this when building your presentation. Basically don’t waffle on about stuff that does not address this objective.

3 Tell a story

We have all been there. A presentation where you start to drift off. Granted there will be genuine reasons for this (something happening at home, and upcoming meeting…) but the real reason you drift is because of a disconnect. To stop loosing people when you talk, you need to connect to them at an emotional level (so they start to think… this relates to me). And this is where story telling comes in.

Pixar are one of the best at storytelling, so i’ll let them tell you more

NB I really suggest getting your hands on something like Pip Decks. These can give you structure or ideas very quickly

4 Build the slide deck whilst in the thick of it

So when is the right time to build your slide deck? Simple answer is when you are actually doing that work. So if you want to talk about A/B testing, note things down whilst doing tests. If you want to talk about new features of a content editing tool, note things whilst trying said tool out.

You don’t have to finish it there and then, but it is so much easier to throw content down, grab screen grabs, record demos there and then rather than to rehash it all again once you have finished.

A really obvious one, is to write a post when you are building a presentation deck. Then when you present (be that a conference or meetup) you can have a link to share which will include more info to complement the talk.

5 Less is more

This relates to the content on slides. Keep it to a minimum. Remember you want people to focus on you and the story you are telling. If you have a slide full of content, then this is where an audiences attention will go.

Equally a lot of content (per slide) leads to misunderstanding and confusion. This excellent post from Avinash Kaushik covers storytelling with data, but the same goes for presenting anything on a slides. He covers topics such as complexity and turning words into pictures, all to reduce that amount of content and focus on what matters.

6 Practice

No true professional speaker just wings it. All the best practice, practice, practice. This could be for reviewing your presentation skills, it could be for timing and it could be for tightening up that story.

First record yourself and watch it back. Yes cringe (I hate it) but you will quickly see things that annoy you (the erms, hands waving, forgetting things…ok so thats just me 🤣) so you can start to weed them out.

Second is to grab anyone, absolutely anyone. Kids, neighbours, colleagues it doesn’t matter. Practice on them. Give them a challenge of timing you too. Practice in this way will help with timings, but it will get you use to people in front of you. Often a few people is worse than a whole group so practising in front of 1 really helps with that connection. Finally ask them did they understand the talk. We don’t expect them to know the subject matter, but they should be able to tell that story back to you. If they can do that your ready.