How to prepare for public speaking: 8 Tips on GitHub Speaker

Recently, we came across the service Speaking.io. Its creator - Zach Holman, one of the employees GitHub. During his tenure, he spoke at a dozen conferences and got a lot of experience in public speaking. So he decided to create a service Speaking's, which contains advice on how to carry on a conversation, express their thoughts and prepare for the performance. These tips are helpful, and we decided to choose the best of them.

Preparing for action

Holman says the speaker, who remembered him for a lifetime:

Several years ago I was at a conference. The organizers invited her to a professional storyteller. He did not say a word on the subject of the conference, but the entire audience was so involved in his conversation, and it was not necessary.

People who know how to tell stories, take possession of this skill by repeating the same phrases. Think of your favorite stendapera. Most likely, after he said a particularly good joke, he mentions about it later. This method allows him to make a stronger connection with the audience.

It is also important to summarize each section of his speech. This method was used by Steve Jobs to all Apple conferences. He expressed the basic ideas and then deployed them explained, and then, at the end of the section, made a brief summary on the subject of his speech.

Outline

If you have an idea for a presentation, it is only the beginning. Turn the idea into a whole it is not so easy. It is best to start with a plan. And moving from largest to smallest. For example, you are going to make a presentation on the rock music of the '70s. First you need to create a general plan:

1. Introduction.
2. The first part: the culture of the '70s.
3. The second part of why society has chosen these musical styles.
4. The third part: the best representatives of rock music 70s.
5. Conclusion.

Amounting to an overall plan, you can move on to the sub, explaining each item in more detail:

1. Introduction.
2. The first part: the culture of the '70s.
   a) The Company and its principles of Hippie.
   b) The development of psychedelic rock due to the popularization of the hippies.

And so on. Going from highest to lowest, you can logically explain every item and do not forget the details. Do not make too big items - they should suggest about the topic, but do not explain it.

It is possible that you do not get it to fit in all the points of the plan, but by creating a plan, you clearly express your thoughts and understand how to turn an idea into a presentation.

Slideshow

According to Holman, he saw the speakers that fit in a half-hour speech several hundred slides. Also, he saw those who did without a single slide. And he and the other case - examples of bad presentations. In the first case, listeners do not remember a small fraction of the information obtained in the second - may not hear the words reinforce the visual information.

Ideal number of presentation slides do not exist. Their number depends on how you file information.

The best way to understand the optimal number of slides - to speak several times. Some enough to the slide was only a few words, and the speaker can continue to open the theme. While others need more information.

The number of slides is also dependent on the presentation of the topic. If it is connected, for example, IT, slides should be more; if it is more like a story, you can do less.

Pauses in speech

Another trick, which Jobs liked to use. By asking the question before answering it, he made a short pause. For the speaker it is quite embarrassing, because the audience hangs quiet, but very effective. You make the audience believe that you are thinking about the answer to a question in real-time, and did not prepare it in advance.

Pauses are also good to go to the next conversation. The length of the pause - 3-5 seconds. If you are too embarrassed to keep quiet, deceive themselves and take a sip of water.

Animation transitions between slides

Do not you dare.

The best program for creating presentations

No need to be zealous in finding programs. If you are running Windows, select PowerPointIf OS X, then Keynote. Alternatives exist, but are designed for those who are planning a complex presentation. For instance, Showoff It allows you to create slides with Markdown, JavaScript and CSS.

How to deal with nerves

You'll be nervous, even speaking at the tenth or twentieth time. But the duration of this state will be reduced. According to Holman, in his first speech, he was not himself from the beginning to the end of the presentation. Speaking at the next time, he was nervous not so long, and then less and less.

Another way fight with nerves - do the test performance of its employees. Moreover, the conditions should be as close to the present. If you forget zapnotes or phrase, your staff will be able to cheer you.

Finishing touches

Before going out to the audience you need to be sure to do a few things:

1. Translate smart phone in silent mode. And even better - in the mode of "Airplane", as the random vibration can distract you.
2. Disable Auto-Brightness and set the brightness to maximum. If the notes are for presentation on a smartphone or tablet, set the brightness so that you feel comfortable reading them.
3. Adjust the monitor speaker. This is an additional monitor in and Sports Keynote, which displays your notes, the current and next slides, as well as a timer.