Tips And Tricks

TalkTips-Day 02: Choose Your Topic

“I want to do a talk, but I have no idea what to talk about” might be one of the things I hear the most from people looking to break into public speaking.
Topics for me come from my own experiences and how I’ve answered my own questions in…

TalkTips-Day 03: Make Notes of Main Ideas

Once I’ve got my topics narrowed down to two or three that I’m sure I want to run with, I start making notes about each one. My method for this changes occasionally. I’ve done this on 5x7 cards (which I use for many life tasks), sticky notes, something…

TalkTips-Day 04: Write an Extract

An extract is a brief paragraph that sets expectations around the value of your talk, and what the audience can expect to take away. (literal definition below.)

This often changes for me after the talk is fully written, but I do an extract early…

TALKTIPS DAY 05: Know Your Target Time (+Bonus Plan B)

Know how long the talk you plan to give is going to be and aim to hit it.

I’ve been doing this a while now and I do not always hit the mark to the minute, I get better with time and practice like everyone…

TALKTIPS DAY 07: Too Many Things

I almost always have way more talking points than I need by the time I’ve put together an outline. Editing can be really challenging. What goes? What stays?

Here’s a trick I learned quite by accident that, so far, has proven to be really awesome…

TALKTIPS DAY 08: Write It Like You Say It

I recall this tip from that one public speaking class I had in college. I’m not entirely sure, but I think I may have adopted this as my overall writing style, even when I’m not writing a talk. I type exactly what plays in my mind.

TALKTIPS DAY 11: Edit (part 1)

I have a lot of thoughts on editing, and since I’m writing these tips in 5-minute bursts, I’ll be breaking “edit” out across a few days.

In general, I never stop editing and revising a talk. I get it to a point where I think it’s ready enough to…

TALKTIPS DAY 12: Edit (part 2)

In yesterday’s post I touched on editing through different lenses: 
Focus. Clear messaging. Flow. Simplicity. Typos. Accuracy.

For me, changing “lenses” is almost like I’m physically changing a pair of glasses. It’s a mental…