[Malvern] Public Speaking

[Barbie]

To follow Ian's post, I would like to add a few things about getting up
in front of your local group of friends.

1) Typically you'll only be talking to 5-20 people

2) Your audience is on your side

3) Your audience will chip in to answer any awkward questions.

4) Your audience are your friends not your enemies

5) Your audience will forgive you for getting it wrong

6) Your audience will be patient.

7) Your audience will give you positive feedback

8) Your audience will give you ideas

Believe it or not I hate getting up in front of an audience and have
often been terrified at conferences. Remembering the above before you
get on stage helps. Once you're up there and speaking you often forget
how nervous you are, and if you are talking about a subject you know
well, your enthusiam for the subject will give you more confidence.

I used to be a professional lighting engineer for bands. As I would
usually finish setting up before the sound crew, I'd occasionally get
asked to check the mikes. I hated getting up in front of 2000 people to
say "1-2, 1-2". These days I don't think about it and just get up there
and do my bit.

No matter what subject you want to talk about, there will always be
others who will be interested in it too. You'll not reach everyone, so
don't try, but even if you enlighten 1 person you've done a successful
talk.

One other important thing to mention is:

  BE YOURSELF

If you know you don't tell jokes well, don't try and add humour into
your presentation, unless you know it'll be understood. If you're
likely to be nervous, keep your slides simple. Too many words can be
distracting and get you flustered. Use images and diagrams if you can to
help emphasise or illustrate a point. A picture and 20 words and all
that :)

You can practise and get really slick in front of the mirror or your
family, but you'll likely not get interruptions like that. Be prepared
to have questions thrown at you during your talk. If the question
involves something you're going to come on to, say so and don't get too
distracted or be tempted to go off at a tangent. That's what the Q&A and
discussion are for at the end.

Perhaps most important of all is:

  ENJOY YOURSELF

Try and relax. If you feel yourself getting flustered, take a deep
breath, collect your thoughts, check your notes and carry on. Your
audience will wait.

If like me, you find practising difficult, don't worry. Every talk I
do only has me writing the slides as preparation. The slides are my
notes, so they prompt me as to what I need to talk about. In this
instance keep it simple always works best.

Once you've done it a few times, you'll get to know what works and what
doesn't and you'll find your own presentation style. 

And to add to Ian's last point, not only have a glass of water (or
some nice liquid refreshment) with you before you talk, but go to
the loo too. Nervousness and water don't mix well even on a half full
bladder :)

If you ever get the opportunity to watch Damian Conway do his talk about
presenting, take notes. It's really useful. I've adapted some of my
slide presentations following his talk, including how i present myself.
I think there maybe a YouTube or GoogleVideo up somewhere about it, so
if I find it I'll post a link, unless anyone else knows it.

At the end of the day, just have a go. You have everything to gain and
nothing to lose.

Cheers,
Barbie.
-- 
Birmingham Perl Mongers - http://birmingham.pm.org
Miss Barbell Productions - http://www.missbarbell.co.uk