[Malvern] Public Speaking

[Andy Dixon]

Thanks for this...

Spurred on, and if anyone is interested, I'll put
together something on Onion Routing / Anonymity /
Censorship circumvention..

Exciting!

--- Barbie <barbie at missbarbell.co.uk> wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
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