Imagine the most terrifying of dreams:
You’re standing in front of an audience,
ready to begin the talk you’ve been practising for weeks.
You look at the blank faces in the front row,
open your mouth to speak...
and the words don’t come.
Again and again, studies have found that people’s number one fear
above heights, spiders, flying, and even death is public speaking.
I used to dread it, but over the course of my career
I’ve found myself regularly having to get up on stage and talk.
The more I’ve done it, the easier I’ve found it.
And whether it’s a keynote address,
a career crucial pitch, or a wedding speech,
over the years I’ve found a few ideas and techniques
which have consistently helped make the whole thing a lot more bearable.
So I’d like to share with you what I call:
Mike Lamb's iluli extravaganza of ideas about standing on stage
in front of large groups of people while talking about something
in a way that ends up being enjoyable and productive for everyone involved.
Catchy, right?
Ok, no. it’s terrible – but it’s terrible to make a point.
Because this title disregards what I think are
the three fundamental aspects of an engaging public speech. Those are:
Clarity, Authenticity and Respect.
Clarity is fairly self explanatory.
People can only take in so much new information at any one time,
so it’s important to identify your key takeaways,
and ensure that everything you say serves to communicate them.
As the quote goes –
“Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em,
tell ‘em,
then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”
Now what do we mean by authenticity?
Well, say you write a script then simply stand on stage, reading it aloud.
No one is going to enjoy that, because it’s not how people talk.
There’s no confidence, no spontaneity, no humanity.
You look like a human, but you’re acting like a robot
aso you seem fundamentally inauthentic.
Thirdly, we have respect, and this goes two ways.
Because by giving you their time and attention,
your audience is showing you respect, so you need to return it.
This one is mostly about preparation – making sure you’re rehearsed,
have everything you need, don’t overrun, etc.
As long as the audience feels respected, they’re rooting for you,
so keep them on side.
Ok, we have three principles. What do we do with them?
Start with the basics: Write a series of bullet points
listing the most important ideas you want to convey.
Then, create a table three columns wide.
In column 1, write a single sentence that illustrates one of your key points.
In column 2, make notes on potential ideas for visuals
which directly support that point – those are going to become your slides later.
And in column 3, write your script.
But, whatever you write
has to fit within the scope of that row’s one sentence summary.
This way you always have an eye on the idea you’re trying to communicate,
and can’t get too far off track.
Once you’ve populated this table you can start to shape your narrative.
Rearrange the rows into an order that makes sense and feels natural,
then work on making sure the paragraphs flow into one another.
Jumping between topics will be jarring so aim for a fluid story arc.
Now it’s time to turn those visual ideas into actual slides.
Remember, they’re only there to support what you’re saying,
so don’t worry about making them too detailed or super slick.
Also try to remember that how things look on a monitor one metre from your face
isn’t how they’ll look on a screen in a conference hall. Simple is better.
Once you’re on stage, the last thing you want is to be watching the clock,
so it’s best to try and keep to 80% of your allocated time
to leave yourself some breathing room.
The best way of testing this is simply by reading the third column aloud,
and timing it.
If possible, record yourself too so you can watch or listen back
and pick out specific moments that sound awkward or unnatural –
tricky technical terms can transform into troublesome tongue twisters,
so use this as a chance to
pick up on particularly problematic paragraphs, and then paraphrase.
Once it’s been cut down to size, it’s time to take it off the page.
Don’t panic!
I’m not going to suggest you memorise it word for word – that’s a minefield.
Instead, print it out, cover up column 3, and try the whole thing again,
using only the one sentence summaries and slides as prompts.
If you do this a few times,
you’ll probably find you word it a little differently each time, but that’s fine.
This semi improvised delivery
requires you to actually think about what you’re saying,
and will sound infinitely more authentic and engaging.
When you first try this, it’s fine to peek at column 3 to see what you missed,
but consider this a good filter.
If you’re consistently missing something,
it might not be essential to what you’re trying to say.
After a few rehearsals, try relying on just the slides.
If you’ve chosen them well, it should be more than enough to keep things moving.
And if so... you’re done!
After a whole bunch more rehearsal, of course.
I find that the benefit of working this way is that
by the time I get to this point,
the cycles of writing, revising, rewriting and rehearsing
have usually given me a much clearer understanding
of what I actually want to say, and the best way to say it.
While reducing the whole process to “Clarity, Authenticity and Respect”
might seem a little over simplistic, I’ve always found those principles
to be the crucial ingredients of honest, productive communication
no matter the audience.
And good communication is an incredibly powerful skill,
on stage or off.
So the next time you’re asked to speak in public, face the fear.
Rise to the challenge, and view it as an opportunity
to hone your skills and improve your communication.