CLAIRE SLATTERY: Hello, and welcome to public speaking
pro tips with Speechless, presented by Google Developers.
We help people turn the mundane into the memorable.
ARJITA SETHI: Challenges into insights.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: And presentations into performance.
ARJITA SETHI: And we do that with something we
call improv thinking.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: We'll give you exercises and insights
to help you become more agile, more confident, and more
engaging.
Which brings us to our first core principle--
if you are a presenter, you are a performer.
ARJITA SETHI: If you're speaking in front of an audience of 300,
or one on one, or team meeting, or even just on video camera,
then you are a performer.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: That's right.
So we want to make sure you approach your talk, your video,
or your meeting with that same attitude
that a performer would approach their work.
ARJITA SETHI: Sounds like we are ready for our tip number one.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Warm-ups!
ARJITA SETHI: Let's start with our voice and face.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Before I walk on stage.
ARJITA SETHI: Or into a meeting.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Or in front of a camera, I warm up my voice.
This exercise is called squish splat.
It's going to seem pretty silly, and that's because it is.
ARJITA SETHI: Almost all of these warm-ups are
a little off the wall in the hopes of getting you
and your brain into a playful mood.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: And there's plenty of science that
proves why that's important.
Visit the description below to learn more
about the positive effects of improv on your brain.
Now imagine you're holding a ball of dough.
ARJITA SETHI: Like beats of dough.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Now you take that dough,
and you throw it against an imaginary window.
And when you do, you articulate it with Splat!
ARJITA SETHI: Splat!
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Really stick that tongue out.
Open your mouth as wide as you can because after we
throw the dough, we're going to grab it
back up from the window, and squish it up.
ARJITA SETHI: Squish!
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Perfect.
And really try to make sure that your facial features all
squeeze together.
Make them a single point.
ARJITA SETHI: Squish!
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Lovely.
Now back to Splat!
And make sure that you really vocalize that-- Aaah-- part.
ARJITA SETHI: Splat!
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Squish!
ARJITA SETHI: Squish!
CLAIRE SLATTERY: This is going to be hard at first,
but over time, you'll get more and more comfortable
making these weird blaaa faces.
ARJITA SETHI: And eventually you will even
be able to look another person in the eyes
and do this back and forth.
BOTH: Splat!
Squish!
Splat!
Squish!
ARJITA SETHI: Until then, try doing it in the mirror.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: And this is just one warm-up exercise
of many, so check out the description
below for more helpful warm-ups.
ARJITA SETHI: And that brings us to tip number
two-- always put a story into your meetings, talks,
or presentations.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: And we're going to practice
telling a story with an exercise we call portkey.
ARJITA SETHI: It helps to get a random word
to inspire your story.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: OK, so the random word is breakfast.
It's important to launch into the story right away.
Don't sit, and think for too long.
A story in motion tends to stay in motion.
ARJITA SETHI: OK, breakfast.
So when I first came to San Francisco about two years ago,
I had to make my own breakfast.
So now I had two choices.
Either I cook my breakfast, which
meant I would burn, melt, overcook,
spoil something, or hunt down a place which
gave amazing breakfast.
And luckily, I found this mom-and-pop shop right
beneath my apartment, which gave these amazing bagels and cream
cheese and lovely coffee.
Well not lovely but then hunger is the best sauce, you see.
Two months ago the shop shut down,
and now I'm again on my hunt.
But I at least bought a coffee maker, which gets me
up and running in the morning.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: So let's break down
what made that story engaging and delightful,
using tip number three.
ARJITA SETHI: Feedback.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Feedforward.
In this exercise, we focus on a series of questions,
starting with, how did you feel telling that story?
ARJITA SETHI: Well initially, it was strange
because I've never told that story to anyone,
and I never thought I would be telling that story to anyone.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Great.
How do you think the audience felt?
ARJITA SETHI: I think initially they
might not be so interested.
But as I got into the story, I realized
it was a personal story, they would have also wanted to know,
what's next?
CLAIRE SLATTERY: What did you feel was successful?
ARJITA SETHI: I think the ending.
I got a coffee maker
CLAIRE SLATTERY: What made it challenging?
ARJITA SETHI: The beginning.
I mean, a random word breakfast.
I never thought I could come up with a story.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: What would you do differently?
ARJITA SETHI: I would ramble less and be quicker, I think.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: OK, that makes sense.
So you said it was a little awkward at the beginning,
starting from the random word breakfast
and that you had never told the story before.
But once you got started, you felt like you kind of got more
into it, the audience started feeling
engaged, wanting to know what was happening next.
And so you wanted to keep that feeling.
So moving forward, you want it to maybe
make it a little less rambly, maybe a little more concise,
and you really like you're ending,
the bit about the coffee maker.
And so I really want you to stick the landing next time.
That felt a great last line.
ARJITA SETHI: That sounds like feedforward.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Totally.
And as you can see, I was able to help synthesize what Arjita
experienced, helping her sort through the insights
and next steps.
ARJITA SETHI: OK, let's recap.
Tip number one-- warm-up.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Squish!
Splat!
ARJITA SETHI: Exactly.
And tip number two-- tell a story.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: And finally, tip number three,
give feedback, feedforward.
ARJITA SETHI: Thanks for watching!
CLAIRE SLATTERY: You can check the description
below for links from Google Developers, Women Techmakers,
and for more tips from Speechless
on how to think like an improviser
and develop your voice.
ARJITA SETHI: Ouch.
CLAIRE SLATTERY: Sorry.