Comments on: HOW-TO Become a better public speaker

By: Leesa Robertson

Leesa Robertson — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:46:18 +0000

Joel, great tips here. I am forwarding on to the Radian6 training team to put into practice during the users conference!

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:06:25 +0000

Thanks, Chaf! Really glad you liked the post.

By: Chaf

Chaf — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:37:59 +0000

Great article Joel. I’m terrified of public speaking so I will take this advice into consideration!

-Chaf

By: KP

KP — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 03:56:37 +0000

#8 – so true! When I am really passionate about a topic it is a piece of cake to present on it. I actually have talked to people who never say their presentation out loud before they get up to do it in front of others…they just rehearse in their heads. Bad move! Thanks!

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:30:44 +0000

Exactly. If what you’re saying and how you’re saying it isn’t interesting, just send an email.

Really glad you liked the post, Dylan!

By: Dylan Blanchard

Dylan Blanchard — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:27:42 +0000

Ahh – this clarifies your point and answers my question in one.

I agree that your dialogue shouldn’t be on your slides. Having a bullet that is more than a couple of words defies what a bullet is supposed to be in the first place.

“Your audience will read your slides before you’ve even started addressing them” – this is bang on. Your emphasis comes from your body language, and if for some reason it doesn’t, perhaps your presentation should be a memo, or short essay. You’re presenting for a reason, after all – make people pay attention to you.

Great points all in one spot, Mr Kelly.

Dylan

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:52:32 +0000

Really glad you liked the post, Mitchell.

Since most people insist on putting *way* too much text on their slides, I’m trying to over-steer people in the right direction. If you’re putting a sensible amount of information on them that isn’t distracting and won’t cause people to read ahead, then you’re gold.

By: Mitchell McKenna

Mitchell McKenna — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:04:05 +0000

Joel, great list of recommendations, I’ll be RTing this one! I am however confused by 3) No bullet points. Your recommending not putting any text at all on your slides? just pictures? I like to put 3-5 points of around 3 words each on a slide, just something to remind me what I want to talk about next. I don’t think I’ve given away what I’m going to talk about, just something to remind myself. Kudos again.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:45:44 +0000

Oh, and another tip: Have someone watch your presentation who will be *completely honest* about it. It’ll hurt to hear it, but it’s important.

Basically, if someone says, “that was great,” and can’t give you a few things to improve upon, they’re not being honest. Any presentation done by anyone could be improved.

I owe much of being able to do a decent presentation because my brother will give honest feedback.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:41:19 +0000

Hope it helps! It’s really just practice, practice, practice.

A good friend of mine actually starts off some of her presentations saying, “I get really nervous doing these, so forgive me if I seem seem a little anxious” (or something like that). That lets the audience realize that she knows she sounds nervous, it’s not a big secret, so they look past it. It’s not a bad idea.

Once you start stumbling over your words, or your knees start to shake, it just gets worse because now you think people are noticing. Well, if you’ve already told them it’s going to happen, you don’t have to worry about it.

And eventually it’ll just stop happening.