Matthew Stibbe's Homepage Speaker Thoughts Thoughts

Introduction:
This page contains some personal advice, based on my experience, about public speaking.

Two things: what you say and how you say it.  The first is easy.  Everyone has something interesting to say so the challenge is sorting the interesting material from the routine stuff.  I try to do this by constructing mind maps on blank sheets of paper of everything that occurs to me on the chosen topic and then highlighting the good bits.  This process can take place over several days because ideas are viscose and take time to form and surface.  Once I think I have dredged everything up, I like to make an outline in Word or PowerPoint to give the talk some structure - a beginning, middle and end.  I tend to use PowerPoint to accompany my talks so at this stage I look for good images or pithy, short phrases to illustrate my talk.  There's nothing worse than looking at slide after slide that simply repeats what the speaker is already telling you.  It's like the drunk and the lamp post: you can use PowerPoint for support or illumination, but not both.  I prefer illumination.

How do you say it?  It depends (doesn't it always?) on what you are trying to achieve: persuasion, data transfer or a sermon.  Whatever you are doing, don't forget to tell a story.  Tell the audience about a problem and how to solve it or give them a setting and a cast of characters.  Your objective will determine how you address the audience.  I like to put up the slides and then try to form a friendly 'we're all in it together' relationship with audience by referring to the slides as if someone else had made them.  We've all seen preachers and politicians in action, if only on TV, and they offer different role models for different situations.