My philosophy on how to be a better speaker

I do a lot of public speaking. I lead a non-for-profit and part of my role is to make the organisation more visible. After years of trial and error, I have honed my process of speaking and presenting, but unfortunately, it takes a lot of work.

What I don’t do

There are lots of gurus out there who will tell you to write a script, memorise and practice it over and over until you know it off by heart. Not only is this time consuming, its also really stressful. If you used this method in the past, you will know that as soon as you go off script or forget a line under pressure the wheels fall off the bus and you falter with your words. This is a rigid and brittle way to go about it. You can get flustered really easily.

Unsurprisingly if you read off a script, you sound scripted. You sound inauthentic, boring, uninspiring. Its just not a great way to do it.

The method I use requires a bit more upfront work, but its work that pays off.

Know the content

Instead of practicing a script or memorise lines, deep dive into the content. Learn everything there is to know about what you are going to speak about. Research different opinions on the topic and what the future predictions are. Go deep. Write notes and read widely. Speak about it to your boss, colleagues and friends. The better you know the detail of what you are talking about, the better the speech will be. For the most part, people will feel if you are bullshitting them. You owe it to yourself and your audience to be prepared and add value to their lives.

Form an opinion

This is where the rubber hits the road. You need to write wherever you do your writing, on your blog, in your notebook or a personal journal, doesn’t matter. The key is to write it down. When you are writing your opinion down, remember to answer the question or prompt that you need to speak about. What I like to do is to frame the topic as a question. For example, this week I have to give a speech on “The role of protected cropping in future food systems”. When I am writing my opinion piece, I am writing to answer the question “What is the role of protected cropping in future food systems”. This guarantees that I am on message and targeted in my response.

In your opinion piece, pull out 3–4 points that you think are the key ideas. Think of these as headings that you flesh out. Use this article as an example if you need to, it follows the same structure.

If you have a PowerPoint, make it a clean and simple as possible. Use the least amount of words as you can. I like to use few words, lots of pictures and lots of slides to make the presentation more about what I am saying, rather than what the audience is reading.

Once the PowerPoint is done, forget about it. Take some time to let your sub-conscious brain chew it on it. This is so difficult, particularly if you are nervous, but it is one of the most important parts of the process.

Speak about what you know

Now for the fun bit. Now you get to share your work with the world. You have done the research, formed your opinion and know the details. Use the PowerPoint as a prompt to get you talking about the content and go as deep or shallow as you want. Remember, you are in control, you control the pace and the messaging. Good presentations are characterised by the clarity of the ideas.

I have a tendency to rush through my talks so I know I need to take the time to slow down and let my words be heard. Take stock of how you are feeling and make any adjustments you need to.

Speaking in public is stressful enough, don’t put more pressure on the performance. Do the work upfront and let the idea’s do the talking.

-ST