Public Speaking

Notes

Don't be afraid of slowing down a conversation (especially one about engineering).
You're not speaking to a group, you're speaking to each individual in a group. Always focus on someone briefly, including eye contact, and then on someone else.
It's easiest to talk well about things you're confident about.
Theory is great but practice is better. Find and join a Toastmaster club in your area or online.
If you use slides, do not read the slides to your audience. It's a waste of time: they can read, and they can read faster than you can talk.
Focus on the on the broad themes and concepts without trying to remember a specific sequence of words.
The best way to start a speech is an empowerment promise: tell people what they will know at the end of the speech that they didn't know at the beginning of the speech.
Laser pointers are not good because, in order to use them, you have to be facing the slides rather than the audience, and that's a way to lose the audience. It's much better to highlight something on the slides using an arrow.
Having a "Questions?" slide at the end of the talk is not good because that slide might be up for 20 minutes, and also wastes an opportunity to tell people who you are.

Last updated 8 days ago

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