Confessions of a Public Speaker

Appendix C. What to do if your talk sucks

Should you discover that a talk you are preparing to do, or one you’ve given before, sucks, this is for you.

While some books on public speaking have long checklists of little things, this is my short checklist of big things. If I see a presentation I think is bad, it’s for one or more of the reasons that follow.

Why your talk might suck

This is your first time

No one wants to have his brain surgery performed by a rookie. When you step to the front of the room, make sure you don’t behave like someone who has never been in the front of the room before, even if it’s true. People who are baffled by their own laptops, confused by how their remotes work, or who spend most of their time looking at their own slides with their backs to the audience are indicating they are doing this for the first time. No audience wants to feel they are your dry run, unless somehow your experimenting makes it fun for them (which it probably won’t).

Solution: Practice until it feels good. Anything you plan to do in your talk must be practiced. If you get a new laptop, remote, or presentation software, give those things trial runs well in advance. Do a dry run in the lecture hall to get used to the space. And work hard on the transitions between slides and points, since this is often where it’s easiest to seem lost. When you practice, look to eliminate things that make it seem like you’ve never done your presentation before (see Chapter 2).

You are a turtle on crack

Turtles ...