E2 2021 | Finding Your Voice: How to Present in the Classroom and Beyond!

Summary

In this meta talk, speaker Zia Hassan shares insights on delivering powerful presentations, emphasizing the importance of connecting with live audiences. He discusses overcoming internal distractions, mindful speech practices, and the art of storytelling. Hassan advises on slide design, using visuals effectively, and varying vocal delivery naturally. He also highlights the impact of a compelling title and the transformative potential of passionate public speaking, encouraging speakers to embrace their unique voices and share their stories.

Takeaways

• 🎙️ Embrace the live audience experience: The speaker emphasizes the importance of engaging with a live audience and the excitement of returning to in-person events.
• 💡 Start with a personal story: Zia Hassan shares his background in performing arts and teaching to establish credibility and connect with the audience on a personal level.
• 🧘‍♂️ Practice mindfulness to manage internal distractions: Developing mindfulness can help silence the internal narrator and prevent it from disrupting your focus during a speech.
• 🔍 Speak clearly and enunciate: Instead of slowing down, focus on clarity and pronunciation to ensure your speech is easy to understand.
• 📱 Record yourself to improve: Recording speeches and watching them back is a powerful tool for self-improvement and identifying areas for enhancement.
• 👥 Seek feedback from a test audience: A small, test audience can provide valuable insights into what parts of your speech are engaging and where attention may wane.
• 📉 Keep slides simple: Slides should be concise, avoiding paragraphs and focusing on enhancing the emotional transfer of your presentation.
• 🎈 Use passion to vary your pitch and pace: Let your enthusiasm for the topic naturally influence the dynamics of your speech, rather than forcing changes in pitch and pace.
• 🤹‍♂️ Be mindful of body language: Use hand gestures to emphasize points, but ensure they complement rather than distract from your message.
• 🔑 Find the right title to captivate your audience: A compelling title can significantly impact audience interest and engagement with your topic.
• 💡 Use stories to create movement in your speech: A clear narrative arc with a beginning, middle, and end helps to convey your points effectively and keep the audience engaged.
• 🔄 Adapt and play with your environment: When unexpected issues arise, use creativity to incorporate them into your presentation and maintain audience engagement.
• 🔁 Make dramatic recoveries from mistakes: If a mistake is made, use a dramatic recovery to regain audience attention and reset the energy of the presentation.
• 🗝️ The power of unlocking passion: Discovering the key that resonates with your audience can lead to impactful and life-changing public speaking.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial idea for the talk before deciding to focus on delivering a powerful live talk?

The speaker initially planned to create a polished video with fancy editing and transitions, but then decided against it to focus on giving ideas about delivering a powerful talk to a live audience.

What is the significance of the speaker's background in theater and music in relation to public speaking?

The speaker's background in theater and music has ingrained in him the ability to manipulate emotions, influence the audience, and tell stories, which are crucial skills for effective public speaking.

How does the speaker suggest dealing with the internal narrator that can distract during a speech?

The speaker suggests developing a practice of mindfulness to quiet the internal narrator, by sitting down for a few minutes a day and listening to it without interacting.

What is the speaker's advice against the common advice of slowing down while speaking?

Instead of slowing down, the speaker advises to speak at a normal pace but to enunciate every word clearly, which naturally prevents speaking too fast.

Why does the speaker recommend practicing speeches in front of an empty room and recording it?

Practicing in front of an empty room and recording allows the speaker to watch the recording afterwards and identify areas of improvement, such as distracting mannerisms or parts that may be boring.

What two key questions should a test audience be asked to provide feedback on a speech?

The test audience should be asked 'Where were you most engaged?' and 'Where did I lose you?' to understand where the speech was effective and where it lost their attention.

According to the speaker, why should the slides in a presentation have minimal words?

Slides with minimal words prevent the audience from being distracted by reading while also trying to absorb the emotional transfer from the speaker, thus enhancing the presentation's effectiveness.

How does the speaker suggest varying pitch and speed in a speech naturally?

The speaker suggests getting genuinely curious and passionate about the topic, which will naturally cause the voice to vary in pitch and speed without sounding forced.

What is the speaker's advice on using hand movements during a presentation?

The speaker advises being reserved with gross motor movements and more flexible with fine motor movements, like hand gestures, while ensuring they do not distract the audience.

How does the speaker suggest creating an engaging title for a presentation?

The speaker suggests framing the topic with a question or an intriguing statement that sparks curiosity, as it can significantly increase audience interest compared to a straightforward title.

What is the speaker's experience with handling unexpected situations during a presentation?

The speaker shares an experience where an air conditioner's noise disrupted his performance, and he turned it into a magical gesture that won applause, demonstrating the importance of adapting and playing with unexpected situations.

What is the most influential speech the speaker ever heard, and why was it impactful?

The most influential speech the speaker heard was only 20 seconds long and was impactful because it resonated deeply with him, demonstrating that the passion and relevance of the message can be more important than the delivery style.

How does the speaker recommend warming up before a speech?

The speaker recommends interacting with people as a way to warm up, as it helps build rapport and practice interesting things to say in a low-stakes environment.

What is the speaker's technique for dealing with filler words during a speech?

The speaker suggests replacing filler words with silence, which allows the audience to digest the information and eliminates unnecessary verbal pauses.

How does the speaker suggest familiarizing oneself with the speaking environment?

The speaker suggests arriving early to the speaking environment to get a feel for it, breathe the air, and stand on the stage, which helps in becoming more comfortable with the space.

What should a speaker do if they make a significant mistake during a presentation, according to the speaker?

The speaker suggests making a dramatic recovery to bring back the energy and start afresh, rather than dwelling on the mistake, which can derail the rest of the presentation.

Outlines

00:00

🎤 Embracing the Power of Live Speaking

Zia Hassan introduces the meta-concept of discussing public speaking in a prerecorded talk. Initially considering a polished video, Zia decides against it to focus on delivering powerful live presentations. Zia's background includes a lifelong passion for performance, from childhood recordings to theater, singing, teaching, and tech training. The talk promises insights into planning, structuring, and rehearsing speeches, with a personal touch as Zia watches the recording with the audience and encourages questions.

05:03

🧘‍♂️ Mindfulness Overcomes Inner Distraction

The second paragraph delves into the challenge of the internal narrator that can distract speakers. Zia suggests developing mindfulness to quiet this internal voice, comparing it to a muscle that needs regular exercise. The advice is to let the narrator speak without interaction, leading to a more focused mind during speeches. Zia also addresses the common advice of slowing down, proposing instead the strategy of enunciating clearly at a natural pace to maintain audience engagement.

10:03

🎥 Rehearsing and Refining Your Presentation

Zia emphasizes the importance of rehearsing in front of an empty room and recording oneself to identify areas for improvement. The discomfort of watching one's recording is necessary for growth. Seeking feedback from a small test audience on engagement levels is crucial. Zia also recommends practicing a quick version of the speech to solidify its structure and pacing, and being aware of the adrenaline that can speed up speech during live presentations.

15:06

📑 Simplicity Wins in Slide Design

Paragraph four addresses the common mistake of overcrowding slides with words, which Zia argues hinders emotional connection. The advice is to minimize text and use visuals like stock photos to support the presentation's emotional transfer. Zia also touches on the importance of varying pitch and speed in speech, recommending that presenters find genuine passion for their topic to achieve natural vocal variation.

20:09

🤹‍♂️ The Art of Engaging Body Language

Zia discusses the role of body language in public speaking, advocating for a balance between gross and fine motor movements. The hands can add expressiveness without being distracting. Zia also explores the impact of presentation titles, using the example of a YouTuber to illustrate how curiosity can be sparked through intriguing questions rather than straightforward statements.

25:10

📚 Storytelling and the Power of Movement

In this paragraph, Zia highlights the effectiveness of storytelling in speeches, recommending a clear narrative structure with a beginning, middle, and end. Physical movement on stage is suggested when it feels natural, not forced. Zia shares a personal experience of an impactful 20-second speech that changed their life, emphasizing the power of the right message, even when short.

🗣️ Mastering Speech Delivery and Recovery

Zia provides tips for handling speech delivery, including warming up with conversation and using the shower as a practice space. They also discuss strategies for dealing with filler words by replacing them with silence, allowing the audience to process information. The importance of familiarizing oneself with the speaking environment is stressed, along with the ability to adapt and make humorous recoveries when mistakes occur.

🔑 The Transformative Potential of Passionate Speech

In the final paragraph, Zia reflects on a brief but impactful speech that inspired them to join a life-changing program. The key takeaway is that passionate delivery on a subject that resonates with the audience can have profound effects, regardless of the speech's length or adherence to traditional techniques. Zia encourages speakers to share their stories and ideas with the world, acknowledging the potential to make a difference.

Keywords

💡Meta

The term 'meta' refers to a concept or idea that is self-referential, often used to describe something that is about itself or its own process. In the context of the video, the speaker humorously refers to the talk as 'meta' because they are giving a talk about how to give a talk, which is a self-referential act. This sets a light-hearted tone for the video and immediately engages the audience with the idea of self-awareness in public speaking.

💡Polished

The word 'polished' is used to describe something that is refined, perfected, and free from rough edges. In the script, the speaker initially considers creating a 'very polished video' with sophisticated editing and transitions. This reflects the speaker's initial inclination towards a high-production-value approach to their talk, which they later abandon in favor of a more genuine and relatable presentation style.

💡Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and engaged in the current moment without being distracted by one's internal thoughts or external stimuli. The speaker in the video suggests developing a mindfulness practice to quiet the internal narrator that can distract a speaker during a presentation. This helps in maintaining focus and presence, which are crucial for effective public speaking.

💡Enunciate

To 'enunciate' means to pronounce words clearly and distinctly. The speaker advises against the common advice of slowing down one's speech and instead suggests speaking at a normal pace but with clear enunciation. This allows the speaker to convey their message effectively without becoming monotonous or losing the audience's attention.

💡Test Audience

A 'test audience' refers to a small group of people who provide feedback on a presentation before it is delivered to a larger audience. In the script, the speaker emphasizes the importance of presenting to a test audience to receive valuable feedback on engagement levels and areas of improvement. This is a critical step in refining a talk to ensure it resonates with the intended audience.

💡Adrenaline

Adrenaline is a hormone that prepares the body for intense physical activity, often referred to as the 'fight or flight' response. The speaker mentions that adrenaline can cause a speaker to speed up their speech due to nervousness. Recognizing and managing this physiological response is essential for maintaining a controlled pace during a presentation.

💡Slides

In the context of public speaking, 'slides' typically refer to visual aids used to support a presentation, often created using software like PowerPoint. The speaker criticizes the overuse of text on slides, suggesting that they should be concise and focus on enhancing the emotional transfer of the presenter's message rather than serving as a crutch for the content.

💡Emotion Transfer

Emotion transfer refers to the ability of a speaker to convey their feelings and emotions to the audience, creating a deeper connection and impact. The video emphasizes the importance of emotion in public speaking, suggesting that a successful presentation is one that can imprint the speaker's emotions onto the audience, as opposed to merely conveying information.

💡Narrative Arc

A 'narrative arc' is a structure used in storytelling that includes a beginning, middle, and end, creating a sense of progression and resolution. The speaker advises using a clear narrative arc in a presentation to guide the audience through the points being made, making the information more engaging and memorable.

💡Curiosity

Curiosity is a strong desire to know or learn something. The speaker identifies curiosity as a powerful tool for engaging an audience, suggesting that creating a sense of curiosity can captivate listeners and encourage them to remain attentive to the speaker's message.

💡Filler Words

Filler words, such as 'um' and 'ah,' are sounds that speakers often use unconsciously to fill gaps in speech while they gather their thoughts. The speaker in the video advises replacing filler words with silence, which not only eliminates the verbal crutch but also gives the audience time to process the information being presented.

💡Recovery

Recovery in the context of public speaking refers to the strategies used to regain control and composure after a mistake or unexpected event. The speaker shares an anecdote about mistakenly addressing the wrong college and describes their dramatic exit and re-entry as a recovery strategy that turned the situation into a humorous moment, demonstrating the importance of adaptability and quick thinking in public speaking.

Highlights

The speaker emphasizes the importance of delivering powerful talks to live audiences despite the prerecorded format.

Zia Hassan introduces himself as a learning consultant with a background in theater, music, and teaching.

The talk shares personal experiences, such as using a Sony Walkman to record radio shows, to illustrate a lifelong passion for storytelling.

Zia discusses the transformative impact of performing in 'The Foolish Molar', a first-grade school play, on his public speaking skills.

The speaker highlights the value of mindfulness practices to manage the internal narrator and reduce distractions during speeches.

Enunciation is stressed over slowing down speech to maintain audience engagement and clarity.

Zia advises against practicing in front of a mirror and instead recommends recording speeches to an empty room for self-assessment.

The importance of getting feedback from a test audience is underlined to understand where the audience's attention is most engaged.

The speaker suggests doing a quick version of the speech to cement its structure in one's mind before the actual delivery.

Zia warns about the tendency to speed up speeches due to adrenaline and suggests reminders to maintain the rehearsal pace.

The talk criticizes the overuse of words on slides, advocating for minimal text and a focus on emotional transfer through presentation.

Varying pitch and speed naturally through passion for the topic is recommended over artificially fluctuating voice in presentations.

The speaker discusses the use of body language, particularly fine motor movements like hand gestures, to enhance communication.

Zia emphasizes the impact of speech titles on audience interest and the importance of framing the topic effectively.

The talk shares a personal anecdote about mistakenly addressing the wrong college and the recovery strategy used to maintain engagement.

The speaker encourages early arrival to the speaking environment to familiarize oneself with the space and feel more comfortable.

Zia shares a story of adapting to an unexpected situation involving an air conditioner during a performance, turning it into a positive.

The talk concludes with a reminder of the potential impact of public speaking on individuals' lives, encouraging speakers to share their stories.

Transcripts

(air whooshing)

- Hello E2 and welcome to my talk

about how to give a talk.

It's very meta.

(calm music)

Now I have to admit that when I first got the topic

of this talk that I was going to be doing

and I knew that it was gonna be prerecorded,

my first instinct was to create a very polished video

with fancy editing and transitions and all sorts of things.

But then I scrapped that whole idea because I realized

that the whole point of this talk is to give you some ideas

about how to deliver a powerful talk to a live audience.

And yes, we will be going back to live audiences again,

it's going to happen.

It's gonna be amazing.

We're gonna be at E2 next year,

crawling over each other in the audience

and licking lampposts and stuff.

It's gonna be amazing.

My name is Zia Hassan,

I am a learning consultant out in Washington DC.

I don't know where you all are,

but future me right now is in the chat.

So if you do have questions

or comments or something you wanna discuss with me,

I'm there watching this very recording with you,

and probably noticing all sorts of weird pieces of dust

on my clothing.

Now, it's important that you know

why I'm qualified to give this talk.

When I was very, very young, I got a tape recorder.

My father owned a Sony Walkman that had a record button

and I learned how to take a blank cassette tape

and record my voice to it,

which was the most thrilling experience in the world.

Because now I got to be somebody

like the radio DJs that I looked up to.

I recorded myself doing full radio shows

with the music and everything.

And it was just a fun thing for me.

I was passionate about it.

And then I was given the lead role in a school play.

This was a school play in first grade

called "The Foolish Molar".

I didn't even audition for this role.

They just gave it to me.

I don't know why, I still don't know why.

In this play, I am a tooth

along with other kids in my class

that are also playing teeth

but I am the lead, because I am the molar,

and I foolishly had candy and got a cavity.

So that was my first time being on stage,

and the feeling of being in front of an audience

and manipulating their emotions,

influencing them, telling a story

just really ingrained itself deep inside of me.

And I continued to do it throughout my life.

In middle school, I joined a theater troupe

and I started doing improv theater

that continued throughout high school.

And then eventually I became a singer-songwriter

which I've been doing for the last, I don't know,

25 years here in DC.

And what I do is, I get on stage

and I tell my stories and I play my songs

and hopefully create an emotional connection

to the audience before everything is said and done.

And then of course, I became a teacher,

and I taught third, fourth and fifth grade.

Which every single day,

when you're in front of a live audience

and that live audience is children,

you really get a knack for public speaking

because you have to keep their attention.

You have to keep them engaged.

And then now, my job is to be a tech trainer.

I also teach a college course, and with college students

especially in a night course, like the one that I teach,

they fall asleep pretty quickly

unless you keep them engaged.

I've probably given speeches to tens of thousands of people.

That's a lot of people to speak in front of.

I don't get stagefright anymore.

It's funny that if you were a live audience,

I would be way more comfortable talking to you,

'cause I could see your face,

I could breathe the same air as you

and we're gonna do that really soon, I promise.

But a lot of people ask me how I plan my talks,

how I structure them, how I rehearse.

And so this video is like the secrets

behind all of the things that I do

when I give a talk in public.

So this is gonna be in no particular order.

We're gonna take a question that I have been asked before,

I keep a record of these, and I'm gonna answer it

for the first time in this speech, on this video for you.

Here's the first question.

(rhythmic music)

So here's what I say, go out of your mind.

That's right, go out of your mind.

And what that means is there is an internal narrator

inside of your head

and you can actually make it say hello to you right now.

Give it a shot.

Make your internal narrator say hello to you.

Make it scream really loud inside of your mind.

You can control it.

And it talks to you at all times of the day.

And if it talks to you while you're giving a speech

then you're very likely to be distracted by it.

It's kind of like talking to someone

while the radio is playing,

and you get distracted by what's on the radio.

So here's what you do to remedy this.

Develop a practice of mindfulness.

I know you've heard this before,

but it's a lot easier than you might think.

All you have to do, for a few minutes a day,

three, four, five minutes,

is sit down and listen to the narrator,

but don't interact with it.

Anytime the narrator talks, let it talk.

And after a while, if you just let it talk

it ends up getting quiet.

Now you have to do this.

It's like building a muscle.

It's like going to the gym.

You have to do this on a regular basis,

otherwise you won't feel the effect of it

when you go in front of a live audience.

So make sure that you're practicing everyday

going outside of your mind.

Should you slow down?

That's a very common piece of advice, to slow down.

I don't like this advice,

because here's what it sounds like when I slow myself down.

Hello, welcome to my talk

about TPS reports.

That can become boring really fast.

So here's what you are gonna do instead.

You are gonna talk like you normally talk

at the pace that you normally talk,

except you are going to enunciate every single word

that you say.

If you enunciate every single word that you say,

and say it really crisp and clear,

it's really hard to speak fast like that.

Unless you're one of those people

that can talk really, really, really fast

and still enunciate.

And that's not many of us.

If that's you, you are probably already very good

at public speaking and you don't need my help.

So don't think about slowing down.

Instead, your cue is to enunciate every single word

while speaking at your regular pace.

The first thing you want to do is forget the idea

of practicing in front of a mirror.

You are not going to give a speech to a mirror.

You are not going to give a speech to yourself.

So it's important instead to first start

by giving a speech to an empty room,

and you are going to use your phone to record yourself

giving that speech so that you can watch it afterwards.

And yes, it's going to be painful,

if you aren't used to this, to watch yourself give a speech,

it is painful,

but you're gonna to do it

because it's going to help you find ways

to make your speech better.

It's going to show you where you are acting

in particular ways that might be distracting,

or boring, or too over the top.

And you can really contain it by watching this recording.

It's kind of like how sports teams watch recordings

of their games so they can do their game better

the next time, I don't really know much about sports

but I think that's a pretty good strategy.

And then, if you can,

you need to get a test audience for your speech.

You need to get a small audience of people in front of you

that can give you feedback.

So give your speech to a small audience of people

and ask them these two questions.

You can ask them more than this,

but these are the two you need to ask them.

Where were you most engaged?

And where did I lose you?

Where did your attention drift?

If your audience can tell you

when their attention waxed and waned,

you have a really good idea

of what parts of your speech were effective

and which parts of your speech were not.

Another thing people like to do,

is do a quick version of their speech

once they get it down,

just to go through the different parts of it,

you don't have to give it in full.

You just kind of hit the notes

and that kind of cements in your brain

the structure of the speech

so that you can fill it with all the different words

that you're gonna put into the speech

when you actually give it.

Now, here's the thing, we talked about the speed,

we talked about enunciating your speech,

the really important thing to remember,

and this will throw you off

if you ever go on a stage after rehearsing.

You rehearse at a good pace,

you get on stage and then on stage,

because you're in front of a live audience,

adrenaline is pumping through your body,

and immediately you start to speed up.

When there are those issues

where someone is talking too fast,

it is usually not because they're just a fast talker.

It's usually because there is adrenaline pumping

through them because it's a very nerve-racking event

if you've never done it before,

or if you don't do it that often.

And so your speech speeds up.

So you might want to, right before you go on stage,

look at some kind of reminder to slow down.

This is not to say you should rehearse

in a way that's really, really slow,

but it's just to remind yourself

and to sort of bring yourself back to rehearsal pace

when you're in front of a live audience.

It just requires a little bit of a reminder,

a little bit of a mental shift.

Okay, let's talk about your slides.

I don't know how to tell you this without being direct.

So I'm just gonna be direct.

Your slides have too many words on them.

Your slides have too many words on them.

If they have more than like five words, seven words,

there are too many words.

Here is the deal.

Your job, as a presenter, is to transfer emotion.

You are doing an emotional transfer.

This emotion that I am feeling right now

should be making an imprint on you, wherever it is you are.

So if you put words on a slide,

even if you're not reading those words off of the slide,

your audience is reading those words on the slide,

or at least they're trying to, but at the same time,

you are giving a presentation and trying to transfer emotion

and putting words on a slide like that causes friction

in that process.

Get rid of the words and focus on your delivery.

If you use visuals, and it's a great idea to use visuals,

I really recommend using stock photos.

Use stock photos to make your points.

Maybe throw in three to five words

if you feel like it's necessary,

but see if you can make your slides

completely free of paragraphs, sentences,

make them as concise as possible.

Make them add to and enhance your emotional transfer.

That is the goal of a presentation, a good presentation.

If you read "The Art Of Public Speaking",

a book by Dale Carnegie,

famous for writing the book

"How To Win Friends And Influence People",

one of the tips that he gives is to vary your pitch

and the speed at which you talk,

and you might have been noticing

that that's something I've been doing in this talk,

but I don't think about it consciously because,

when people hear this tip,

they think to themselves, "Okay, I need to go on stage,

and I need to fluctuate my voice

and I need to speed up sometimes and slow down other times."

That can work, but it's a little bit artificial.

Here's what you're gonna do instead.

Instead, you are going to get curious

and passionate about your topic.

You can tell that I love public speaking.

You can tell that this is something that fires me up.

And just because it's special to me,

my voice will naturally follow that passion.

And when your voice naturally follows your passion

it will vary in pitch and it will vary in speed,

and it will do so naturally

in a way that connects emotionally to your audience

and doesn't sound forced.

So if you aren't already fascinated by your topic,

if you aren't already interested in your topic,

I recommend finding some way to do that.

I don't really know what that might mean for you.

It might mean some more research,

or maybe something like that,

but you need to make sure that you get on top of it.

This is something that you can really play with,

and you don't wanna overdo it,

because if you're constantly moving your hands around,

then that is going to be a distraction.

So think about it like this.

You have gross motors,

those big muscles in your body, like your arms, your legs.

You also have fine motors like your fingers, like your toes,

and what I like to do, and this is just me,

so you can take this for what it's worth.

I like to be a little bit reserved with my gross motors.

And I like to be a little bit more flexible

with my fine motors.

So you'll see me doing a lot of things with my hands,

with my fingers,

and I kinda don't think about it.

I just kinda let my hands do a little bit of talking

as I'm going, but you wanna make sure,

when you watch your video back of your presentation,

that the hands aren't really distracting the audience.

And that's something you can ask your test audience

when you do a test audience run.

That's really important, because it frames the entire way

that the audience sees the topic.

There's an amazing YouTuber named Michael Stevens.

He goes by the name of Vsauce on YouTube,

check out his channel, it is phenomenal.

But what's really interesting about his videos,

other than the content of the videos,

are the titles of the videos.

There's a video he has called "How high can we build?"

That's fascinating.

That's a really fascinating question to think about,

how high can we build a building

without it falling down?

How does gravity pull from both the Earth

and from space at the same time?

And where's the breaking point?

The video itself is about gravity,

but can you imagine the difference

between saying, "Here's a video about gravity."

Versus, "How high can we build?"

There's a difference.

And the title really makes a difference.

For instance, if I were to make a video

about nutrition for toddlers,

if I call it nutrition for toddlers one-on-one,

that is a snooze-fest,

and I could give a great presentation,

the exact same presentation,

and call it something like,

"How to stop your toddler from throwing food on the floor"

and I guarantee more people will be interested in the topic,

even if the content is exactly the same.

The way that I framed it,

the entry point, makes a huge difference.

I got this tip from a high school teacher,

one of my high school teachers when I was in high school,

which was, when you are changing to a different subtopic

in your speech, you should move across the stage.

You should walk to your new topic.

Don't do this, it looks awkward.

Instead, provide movement through story.

Now, story can be used very effectively to make your points,

and make sure that your story has a beginning,

a middle, and an end,

and make sure that those beginning,

middle, and end points are clear.

If you have a beginning, middle and end of a narrative arc,

your audience will feel the movement of the story.

And yes, you can physically move as well,

when it feels necessary to do so,

but you don't have to force yourself to walk to a new point

every time you have a new subtopic.

I will tell you that the most influential, inspiring speech

that I ever heard, was 20 seconds long.

We'll come back to that in a minute.

There are triggers that you can use.

There's a great book by Sally Hogshead called "Fascinate"

that actually talks about these different triggers,

but my favorite trigger from this book

that you can use to get someone's attention,

to make them fascinated in the topic

that you're talking about, is you can create curiosity.

I just did that for you

when I told you about an influential speech that I heard,

the most influential speech that changed my life

that was 20 seconds long.

When I said that, you're probably thinking to yourself,

""Well, what was that speech?

Come back to that, tell me!"

And it makes you fascinated.

And it makes you keep listening

to the end of this little piece here.

But one thing you can try,

many people when they are about to give a speech on a stage,

they hide in the green room, and they're nervous,

and they're waiting, and when they finally come out,

they haven't spoken to anyone in like 20 minutes.

Now you don't want to ruin your voice during that time,

but I recommend talking to other people.

It could be the other presenters

that you're working with at a conference.

It could be people in the audience

that you're meeting and greeting as you go.

And when you're having these conversations

you can strategically have this sort of

back and forth with them,

this rapport that you're already starting to build

and you can kind of practice coming up

with interesting things to say,

you can play off of the things that they say.

You can make a joke.

You can try things out.

It's a low-stakes environment to get you warmed-up

for the actual speech.

Some people do, I don't know, vocal gymnastics,

little acrobatics, mommy made me mash my M&Ms,

that sort of thing.

And that's probably a good way to warm up your voice

and your tongue, but interacting with people

is an even better way to warm up for a speech.

I recommend you do that.

This requires practice.

Here is my best suggestion

for how to be more articulate.

You shower every day, don't you?

I'm sure some of you do.

In the shower, if you're about to give a speech,

start to talk as if you are presenting,

and you can talk about your topic.

You can go back and revise.

This is actually how I came up with a lot of the content

for this speech.

I did it all in the shower.

By the way, you can buy waterproof shower pads

that repel water, and you use a pencil

and you can write down your ideas

when you're in the shower as well.

It's a great way to make sure

that good ideas don't go down the drain.

All right, people get worried about filler words,

things like ums and ahs,

and you know, those words that kind of just

fill up the space in between actual thoughts.

Here's the trick.

And you kinda have to train yourself to do this.

Every time you feel yourself getting to a filler word,

replace it with silence.

It feels weird to replace an um or an ah with silence,

but in your mind, it feels like that silent bit is longer

than it does for the audience.

Remember that the audience is also processing

the information that they're receiving as you are saying it.

So when you pause,

not only do you get rid of those filler words,

but you also allow the audience

to digest what you are saying.

So I recommend, if you can,

to go to your speaking environment early

and get a feel for it, breathe the air,

stand on the stage, stomp your feet,

yell into the crowd.

With no one there,

you can really play around with the environment

and you can get a feel for it.

And by the time you actually deliver your speech

you're gonna be a lot more comfortable with that space.

Now, what happens if you get to your stage

and it is not what you expected?

I once played on a stage

where there was a loud air conditioner

next to me for my entire set.

It kept turning on.

(imitates air conditioner)

And it kept turning off.

(imitates air conditioner)

And in the times where it was off,

you could hear me playing.

In the times where it was on,

it was definitely loud

and kind of overpowering my performance,

even though I was playing through a speaker.

So I played with that idea.

So this is what I did.

At one point, the owner of this little room

turned the air conditioner off.

And you know how, when you turn off an air conditioner,

it takes a few minutes before it actually shuts down?

Like there's a good lag time between flipping the switch

and the air conditioner actually turning off?

So I turned to the air conditioner,

and I made a magical gesture at it,

right at the moment I thought it might turn off.

And I was right and the air conditioner shut down

right as I made this magical gesture at it,

and everybody stood up and applauded for me.

That was the most applause I got that night.

And it was because I learned

how to play with my environment.

I was open to the fact that this was kind of annoying,

and this was kind of getting in the way of my performance,

and I just made it work for me.

I just came up with an idea and played with it.

That takes a little bit of experience,

but look for those things

when you have a situation, something goes wrong,

you can always play with it.

I was giving a speech once at a local university here in DC.

And I walked out to a crowd of people,

and I said, "Good morning!"

and I said the name of the institution.

And I said the wrong name of the institution.

I said, good morning to the wrong college.

And when they informed me that I had said the wrong name,

I was extremely embarrassed.

So I left the room in a very dramatic fashion.

I didn't really know how to recover

from that just by standing there on stage.

So I ran out of the room in a very dramatic fashion.

Everybody laughed.

I came back in as if nothing had happened.

And I started all over again as if nothing had happened.

And they thought it was really funny,

and later I was told it was a really good save.

Compare that to what some people might do, and say,

"Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed.

I can't believe I just did that, please forgive me."

At that point, the speech is already off the rails.

If you start from that place of that energy,

then that affects the rest of your presentation.

So make sure, if you make some huge mistake, like I did,

that you do something kinda dramatic to recover from it,

and bring back that energy.

It will look different for you

and your personality and the people you're presenting to.

But that's what I did in this particular instance.

Okay, one last thing.

And I know that the background

looks a little bit different right now,

because it's the next morning.

I wore the same shirt and even put my ring back on

so that it didn't look like

there were any continuity errors.

I had mentioned earlier in the talk

that there was a speech that was given

that was really persuasive and influential for me.

It changed my life and it was only 20 seconds long.

I work at Anne Arundel Community College,

which is a college in Maryland.

I teach a human growth and development course there.

And every year there's a meeting

for the adjunct professors to come and share ideas

and just get on the same page with each other.

It's once a year.

But at the very first one that I did,

there was a person there

from the Anne Arundel Community College coaching program.

And that is a program that trains new coaches

to go out into the world

and help people with their dilemmas.

I will be honest with you,

I don't even remember the words that were said

in this presentation from the person giving it.

I don't remember,

I remember that she had about 20 seconds

to kind of advertise for this program,

but after that 20 seconds was over, I was completely sold,

and I knew that doing this program would change my life.

And I have now done the program and it has changed my life.

And the reason why I bring this up is because

that speech that she gave had no stories in it.

It had no narrative arc.

It was actually very fast, she spoke very fast.

A lot of the ideas that I've given you in this video

she didn't really follow those necessarily,

but the subject matter was like lock and key for my brain.

And this is maybe the most important lesson of all.

If you can figure out what the key is

to the lock of your audience's minds,

what is going to unlock some kind of passion in them,

and if you can communicate that with passion,

then you might change someone's life

with your public speaking.

You might change a child's life,

if you work in the classroom.

You might change a conference member's life,

if you're speaking at a conference.

And when I told her later on that this had occurred

during those 20 seconds, she was almost surprised.

And that's another thing to remember.

We often don't know just how much impact our words have.

So if you are ever feeling like what I have to say

and what I have to say in this speech, isn't that important

or I'm gonna sound like I don't know what I'm talking about,

just remember that there is very likely somebody out there

that hears your words, takes your words,

and something about their lives will change

as a result of your words.

So I encourage you to go out there,

talk to people, share your story, share your ideas.

And as you're using all these different techniques,

go ahead and tweet at me, send me messages on Instagram,

wherever you can find me online,

and then check out my podcast,

which is called "Gently Down the Stream",

where I talk, just like this, every single week

about topics that have to do with changing your life.

So that's it, E2.

I care about you very much.

And I know you're gonna go out there

and change people's lives with your public speaking.,

and I cannot wait to be there to cheer you on.

(calm music)

(air whooshes)