The Talk on Talks

Most people are scared to present at a conference, or a meetup, or at a company meeting. Public speaking is a common fear, and many find themselves at night waking up from nightmares involving a disastrous speech. All too often, people think public speaking is something to be afraid of.

THEY"RE TOTALLY RIGHT OH MY GOD PUBLIC SPEAKING IS ONE OF THE MOST STRESSFUL THINGS YOURE EVER GOING TO DO PLEASE HIDE AND AVOID ALL HUMANS AND STRANGER DANGER

Now, that said, sometimes you're stuck. You can't very well turn down the speech at your best friend's wedding now, can you? Or maybe you can because secretly you don't like your friend as much as they think you do. You meanie.

The best public speakers are as nervous as you are. They've just done it before, and they all do certain things much better than you. But you can change that. It's an extremely learnable skill.

That's what this talk is all about.

Transcript

1. talk the on talks
2. Reasons to improve your public speaking · Speaking at conferences can be exciting · You’ll feel more confident speaking at your workplace · Your slides won’t look like horseshit
3. talk the on talks
4. @holman
6. planning the
7. start early
8. talk preparation will expand to fill all available time holman’s rule:
9. pick the topic
10. you should be an expert in the topic
11. research-based talks is a horrible idea
12. storytimeTM
13. outlining
14. rule of three makes for a good talk
15. human concentration is pretty crappy ( )
16. rule of three section-1 section-2 section-3
17. rule of three section-1 section-2 section-3 outro intro
18. rule of three section-1 section-2 section-3 supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point
19. rule of three section-1 section-2 section-3 supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point expand into slides
20. repetition
21. the best talks are stories
22. the best stories involve repetition
23. builds anticipation, focuses an audience
24. storytimeTM
25. If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. “ Winston Churchill
26. section-1 section-2 section-3 supporting point supporting point supporting point supporting point recap slides
27. recap slides section-1 section-2 section-3 supporting point supporting point recap supporting point supporting point recap
29. planning recap
30. start early be an expert rule of three use repetition
31. building the
32. good vs. evil show & tell
33. Killing human beings and getting away with it
34. no one can read that shit
35. make your text HUUUGE
36. HUGE
37. you can’t get too big
38. design for the back of the room
39. design it in the back of the room
40. Killing human beings and getting away with it
41. no one can read that shit
42. contrast
43. dark on light
44. light on dark
45. code, too:
46. ! <blink> <marquee> do more drugs </marquee> </blink>
47. ! <blink> <marquee> do more drugs </marquee> </blink>
48. use color to focus
49. ! <blink> <marquee> do more drugs </marquee> </blink>
50. ! <blink> <marquee> do more drugs </marquee> </blink>
51. ! <blink> <marquee> do more drugs </marquee> </blink>
52. syntax highlight editors, not talks
53. Killing human beings and getting away with it
54. no one can re-
55. it’s a little harder to read it but it’s okay a little bit
56. choose fonts
57. sans-serifs
58. google fonts
59. lost type co-op
60. helvetica
61. Killing human beings and getting away with it
62. some won’t read all that
63. remove more words from your slides
64. remove more words from your slides
65. avoid slide reading
66. encourage listening
67. Get away! with murder
68. murder is frowned upon
71. wasted space
72. expand photos
75. I hate trees. “
76. Tax evasion tips
77. Tax evasion tips
78. Tax evasion tips
79. slide transitions are stupid
80. use them sparingly and purposefully
81. building recap
82. use large, readable text
83. delivery the
84. how to speak
85. be excited
86. talks are entertainment
87. is your talk better than a blog post?
88. practice
89. rehearse a bunch
90. record yourself
91. record yourself it’s super embarrassing lol
92. variance
93. monotone is the fast track to boring
94. change up your:
95. pauses
96. volume
97. speed
98. movement
99. things break
100. sound battery kernel panics internet gravity fonts colors notifications
101. sound kernel panics internet gravity fonts colors notifications battery & PROJECTORS!
102. have a copy of your slides
103. bring adapters
104. roll with it
105. computers suck; humans understand
106. storytimeTM
107. q&a
108. what if you don’t know the answer?
109. pause & think about the question
110. “I don’t know”
111. instant +1 karma
112. dealing with jerks
113. you have the mic
114. “do you have an actual question?”
115. the audience probably hates the guy too
116. delivery recap
117. be excited practice a bunch use variance roll with the punches
118. public speaking is scary
119. public speaking but also fun
120. it’s just a learned skill
121. @holman