How to Speak Publicly and Teach

The act of teaching is the art of conveying information to others so they understand.

While the one-on-one experience of teaching is an intimate experience of guiding someone through trial-and error, large-scale teachers are effectively public speakers with some dialogue interspersed to clarify points to the audience.

A public speech is simply a broad-reaching discourse with a clearly defined time limit:
  • You’re trying to convey 1 big philosophically driven point with up to 2-5 major points that create a relatable story that supports it.
  • People never get bored if they’re at the center of the experience, so pay very close attention to them: who they are, what they believe, and what they want.
  • Since a speech will never compare to writing (which people can gloss over), limit your speech to only the most critical information.
    • If you must share more information, simplify it with a reference to your writing.
  • Estimate your word count when you write it out, since the average speaker uses 2–3 words a second, which means a 10-minute speech will need about 1,500 words (600 seconds x 2.5 words).
  • Your feelings will bleed into your speech, so your emotional state is as important as what you say.
    • Professional speakers treat public speeches as casual, informal experiences to make everything feel more comfortable.
  • The larger the crowd, the more energy you’ll need to bring to the event.

Speaking to a crowd is the most extreme form of communication, but crosses into many fields:

While anyone can publicly speak with practice, more people are afraid of it than dying:
  • Even when you completely screw up, people are paying more attention to your message than you.
  • Professional public speakers still have fear, but they learn to manage it.
    • The fear is inevitable, but their secret is to channel it into body language, voice projection, and focusing on their tone.
    • Learn to sweep your eyes across the room and, eventually, fix your gaze on a few people in the room at a time.

Conveniently, audiences pay more attention to the message than the speaker:
  • In that sense, public speaking is mostly a performance that magnifies an interesting perspective.
  • People even feel like a story of the speaker’s life is separate from that speaker standing in front of them.
  • Only speak with a purpose in mind:
    1. To inform – gives understanding, an explanation, or knowledge
    2. To entertain – bring amusement, enjoyment, and laughter
    3. To inspire – animate or exalt the human spirit or arouse feelings
    4. To convince – trigger change, alter beliefs or strengthen beliefs
    5. To persuade – bring a belief through argument and reason
  • People only remember up to 3 points from a speech, so keep it brief.

The ideal lecture location is a theater or any other place where everyone can see and hear you clearly.

Build a common theme to emphasize the discourse:
  • Every discourse, no matter how small, is a story.
  • Use imagery that draws from words to paint a verbal picture.
  • Use a catchphrase throughout the talk to connect to the central idea.
  • Whatever you share, it must be useful or motivational, and must relate to the audience’s experiences.

Keep your central idea specific:
  • The central idea should be a complete sentence that directly connects to an emotional association in the audience, and the title should reflect it:
    • The top five problems you have with _____ and how to solve them
    • Why _____ sucks and what we can do about it
    • Mistakes I made in _____ and what I learned
    • The most frequently asked questions and brilliant answers about _____
    • The truth about _____ and how it can help you
    • Smart shortcuts and clever tricks only experts know about _____
    • The five reasons you win by giving me _____
    • Why _____ will change your life forever, for free, right now
  • The idea should be very specific and resonate with feelings and experiences, not niches and specialties.
  • Usually, the best ideas are profoundly simple.
  • You should be saying your central idea as early on as possible to give the listeners context for everything else you want to say.
  • People aren’t that great at listening, so try to express your point through at least three different perspectives throughout the discourse.

Your preparation is completely personal preference:
  • All you need is a working understanding of what you’re trying to share.
    • You should be confident enough to speak without consciously thinking about what you want to say.
    • If you thoroughly understand your ideas, you can expand or shrink it to the size of any presentation.
  • Don’t completely improvise when you can research beforehand, but don’t read off a script unless you must.
    • If you must read off a script, memorize the first and last few lines to look at the audience at the beginning and end when they’re likely to look at you.
    • If you intend to memorize it all, you should be able to speak ahead of a double-time recording of yourself while focusing on something else.
  • Have a basic outline of what you want to cover, with at least 2–3 words per point to stay on track.
  • Most professional speakers have a “pocket speech” ready within seconds.
  • If you’re concerned, ask the host if anything has happened recently that you should know about.

A. First, give an introduction:
  • The introduction will be ~10% of the discourse, and will be the first impression you’re leaving the audience.
  • If the context permits, ask the audience if they’re too cold or too warm, then ask the organizers to do something about it.
  • The central idea should be part of the introduction somewhere, preferably within the first few moments of the speech.
  • Since your first minute in the spotlight gives the most impact, your introduction should not last over a minute.
    • To build drama for your opener, pause for a couple of seconds.
    • The first two seconds determine whether the audience wants to listen.
  • Your opener determines how exciting and interesting you are, and must be different from their expectations.
    • Use whatever the host introduced you as the presumption everyone has of you (i.e., the expert on that subject).
  • Some openers always capture attention:
    • Start with a verb.
    • Start with a story.
    • Ask a series of questions that lead to the same answer.
    • Start with a shocking, uncomfortable statistic.
    • Ask a question that makes them want to hear the answer.
    • Communicate exactly how much time you’ve been given, how many points you want to make and how much time you will spend on each point, and that the remaining time at the end will be for questions.
    • Ask a simple question with a decent prize (e.g., copies of your book, items you know the crowd likes, $10 coffee shop cards) for people who get it right.
    • Pose an interesting, challenging problem related to your topic that can be solved in 30–60 seconds.
    • Let the audience know they can loudly ask, “Who cares?” at any time, and you’ll explain how it matters.
    • Take a risk and tell them that you only want 5 minutes of their time, and that they can tune out for the rest if they want, but that you simply want the first 300 seconds of their time.
  • Avoid bad introductions:
    • Fumbling with anything, or unclear/indecisive sounds or words.
    • Apologetic behavior of any sort.
    • Flattery, or any overused expression of how honored you are to be there.
    • Pompous or pretentious language.
    • Inappropriate jokes or comments.
      • Since most people are distracted in the first minute by the transition to your speaking, avoid opener jokes unless they’re explicitly relevant to the speech.
  • To honor formalities, refer to the previous speaker or the occasion.
  • Draw good attention:
    • You’re trying to arouse the audience’s curiosity.
    • Show how the audience could gain or lose.
    • Clarify common ground with the audience, especially if they are hostile or don’t care.
    • Win respect with reputation, standing or esteem.
    • Use a visual aid if it works for you, but it must be a completely optional portion of your speech.
  • Unless you’re aiming for it, avoid bad attention:
    • Avoid sensational tricks.
    • Show sincerity and modesty.
    • Never imply you’re superior.
    • Pave the way for the body of the speech.

B. Next, navigate the body of the speech:
  • The body will be ~85% of the discourse, and will be 2-5 main points that advance the central idea.
  • Organize the main points into 2-5 brief, complete sentences.
    • You should know the likely counter-argument for each point.
    • Never spend more than 10 minutes on any point.
  • Subordinate points will give more detail to each main point.
    • Clarify each subordinate point with stories.
    • If you can, use a subordinate point to reference the previous speaker’s ideas.
    • Avoid any points that the previous speaker had already said.
  • Use transitioning words, phrases, and sentences that link everything together.
    • While you can use any words you want, avoid overused or odd words (“and”, “and so”, “uh”).
  • Choose any order you want:
    • Chronological or time – yesterday, today, tomorrow or past, present, future
    • Space – top, middle, bottom or east, west, north, south
    • Topical – logical or natural divisions of the subject
    • Classification – groups something is made of or used for
    • Cause-effect – sequence of events
    • Monroe’s motivated sequence:
      • Attention – gains favorable attention
      • Need – state what needs improvement
      • Satisfaction – show how a suggested solution fills the need
      • Visualization – vividly describe the solution’s practical implementation
      • Action – state what the audience can do
    • Problem-solution – first explain the problem, then state the solution
    • Theory-practice – first tell the theory, then describe the practice
    • Ascending-descending – most important first, then down to the least important
    • Descending-ascending – least significant first, then up to most important
    • Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? – answer all or most of the questions
    • Extended analogy – entire speech is an extended analogy
    • Stop, look, listen – give specific instructions
    • ABC’s – essentials of the thing, or elementary processes or principles
    • Keyword or name – make an acronym to clarify main points
  • Always add something personal in the middle that openly shares your failings and understates your successes.
    • Some people are terrified of losing their audience in the middle, but it’s the best time to share open, heartfelt things.
  • You can get feedback and adjust accordingly in the middle by asking, “how many of you think I’m going too slow?”, then the same for going too fast.
  • Unless you intentionally want it for dramatic effect, don’t let silence persist in the middle because it focuses the conversation.
  • Only have 3–4 points, and add more at the risk of boring or confusing the audience.
    • Be prepared to throw some of your talking points out if you lose track of time.

C. Each of your main points will emphasize a different angle of the story:
  1. Clarify with a detailed hypothetical or factual example (illustration).
    • Anecdotes are relatively brief stories of a humorous, curious or noteworthy incident.
      • They’re often biographical and usually with a human interest.
      • They often involve personal experiences, but may include observing or doing something.
    • Descriptions either appeal to the senses or tell how parts of something fit into a whole.
  2. Clarify by pointing out similarities or differences between objects or qualities (comparison).
    • Analogies are quick comparisons between two things:
      1. Literal analogies are extended comparisons that point to something similar.
      2. Figurative analogies compare different things that either resemble each other in likeness or through a statement that compares them.
    • Analysis breaks a whole into its parts, usually by comparing/contrasting something else.
  3. Clarify by explicitly stating how a whole and its components are related, or simply “what it is”(explanation).
    1. Make a general statement of the whole of something.
    2. Tell how the parts fit the whole of it.
    3. Tell how it differs from everything else in the universe.
    4. Define it with an official or authoritative meaning.
  4. Reinforce existing thoughts with restatement (saying things another way) or repetition (repeating the same words for emphasis).
  5. Prove something with persuasion.
    • Factual illustrations are detailed examples of a real thing that confirms a conclusive or likely truth.
    • Statistics are any numbers that measure reality.
      • You’ll need specific stories from large-scale data to prove the point.
      • If you need a statistic, ask a simple question to 25, 50 or 100 people.
    • Only use a stated testimony or quotation from someone with authority on the subject.
      • Make sure to clarify if it’s a quote or paraphrase.
    • You can pull information from various sources:
      • Interviews, questionnaires, and correspondences
      • Library and internet resources
      • Encyclopedias, periodicals, newspapers, yearbooks/almanacs, and specialized reference books

D. Wrap up the ideas with a conclusion that captures one final idea:
  • The conclusion will be ~5% of the discourse, and wraps up the entire reason people sat through your speech.
  • Always leave the speech on a positive note.
  • Don’t end inappropriately:
    • Stopping awkwardly or saying “that’s all I have to say”
    • Apologizing at all
    • Saying “in conclusion” and then speaking more than one sentence
    • Casting doubt about what you said or asked them to do
    • Avoiding a conclusion by saying “the speech could go on and on, and I leave the conclusion to you”
  • You can end the speech in various ways:
    • Summarize the message.
    • Quote someone who summarized your speech in familiar or authoritative words.
    • Restate the central idea.
    • Make a personal reference or appeal to what you believe or desire the audience to understand.
    • Share an anecdote that demonstrates the message.
    • Give a rhetorical question that doesn’t call for an answer.
    • Call for an action (especially in a persuasive speech).
    • Make a challenge to think or act.
    • If appropriate, open up for questions by asking, “Is there anything you’d like me to clarify?”
  • To make it resonate, memorize the end word-for-word, especially the last sentence.

Pause frequently to draw more attention:
  • Pause before saying something differently.
  • Hold a pause after you’ve said something you think is important.
  • Pause to give relief for the listeners to absorb what they’ve just heard.

Keep your pace at an even tempo:
  • Since you’re nervous, you’ll be tempted to speak faster, but hold an even pace.
    • If you need, practice with a metronome.
  • Build an expected flow of language and action, then deviate from it faster to elevate the mood or slower to lower it.
  • Reflect your body language to create the correct environment:
    • Grand gestures and slow pace to create awe and wonder.
    • Small gestures and slow pace to generate fear and uncertainty.
    • Grand gestures and fast pace to portray enthusiasm and energy.
    • Small gestures and fast pace to create anxiety and unease.

Use visual cues and slides carefully:
  • You should be able to hold up your discourse without visual aids.
  • If you use them correctly, visuals can make an enormous impact.
    • Mismanaging them, though, will distract the audience, which is far more frequent.
    • If your idea is simple enough, you do not need slides.
  • Everyone in the room should be able to see what you’re showing.
  • If you use a prop, immediately explain what it’s for unless you’re aiming for suspense.
  • Use simple slides:
    • Use the 10/20/30 Rule for all text slides:
      • No more than 10 slides, 20 minutes of speaking, and at least a 30 pt font.
      • Even in a one-hour meeting, never speak for more than 20 minutes (assume 25 minutes for setup and 15 minutes for questions).
      • You’ll run through the slides relatively quickly, so keep them simple with large text.
    • Rarely use effects and transitions.
    • Each slide should match the theme on all the other slides.
    • Relevant things on the slides should be apparent within the first second of seeing it.
    • Don’t use full sentences on the slides.
      • The audience will stop listening to read them.
  • If you want to focus on something specific, point directly to an object on the slide, but overused pointing distracts from the message.
  • Don’t give out copies of presentation slides.
    • They’ll read the presentation instead of observing you.
    • Converting presentation slides to handouts is adapting a medium, so they’re more complicated to read.
    • If you want them to have a document, prepare a dedicated handout for the end.

Sensibly plan for your speech:
  • A day before the event:
    • If you’re using slides on your computer, create a separate account to prevent showing anything sensitive or embarrassing.
    • Save a PowerPoint presentation as a PowerPoint Show (.ppsx) to open it directly to the slideshow.
    • Prepare your speech for how much time you’ll need and the way you say words.
    • Rehearse with someone else or record and play yourself back.
    • Relax and do something fun that evening.
  • The day of the speech:
    • 3 hours before, take a short walk to clear your mind.
    • Drink 90 minutes and 30 minutes before the speech, then go to the bathroom.
    • Show up early to the event to give time to settle yourself.
    • If you can, meet audience members to make speaking in front of them easier.
    • If you’re opening up for questions, arrange for a friend to ask one to start the discussion.
  • Right before speaking:
    • 15 minutes before you go up, drink water to prevent dry mouth.
    • Release stress:
      1. Take a deep breath through your nose all the way in.
      2. Raise your shoulders as high as you can.
      3. Drop your chin to your chest.
    • Try chewing gum or practicing a familiar ritual.
    • Remind yourself why you’re speaking.
    • As you feel stress, keep breathing normally.
    • Keep the two most important parts of your message in memory:
      1. The opening statement(s)
      2. The closing statement(s)
    • Bring bottled water with you when you go up to take a drink if you need to gather your thoughts.
  • After the speech:
    • If you’ve opened for questions, keep your answers short.
      • Offer to discuss in-depth questions later or send information to them.
    • Learn from your mistakes and move on.
      • Nobody paid as much attention to them as you.

Keep a close eye on time:
  • Since people are scheduled to listen to you, the worst thing you can do is bore them longer than scheduled.
  • On the other hand, brevity leaves people legitimately interested wanting more, which increases their likelihood of following up with you later.
  • After about 30 minutes, people become mentally fatigued.
  • If it’s a very long speech, give frequent breaks or mix in interactive activities.
  • When in doubt, ask the room for a show of hands if they want to move on to the next topic.
  • Every 10 minutes, re-establish the attention of the room by asking a question to see who is still interested.
  • If it’s a webinar, don’t bog down the speech by answering their typed questions.
    • Wait until the end, or have an assistant do it or give them exercises for you to catch up.
  • Provide access to the lecture notes, presentation slides or a recording of the speech for their convenience.

Leave them with something to take home:
  • Give a handout or business card.
  • Make sure one major idea connects to a mundane household object.
  • If it’s already scheduled, tell them of a future event you’re involved in.
  • Giving them something to do with the information is often the most difficult part of the discourse.
    • You must help them succeed beyond your influence or reputation, which requires humility.

Your ability to adapt in a moment is crucial:
  • Your improvisational creativity becomes critical in those times because all their attention is focused on you.
  • If the microphone fails, step into the audience for everyone to still hear you.
  • If the media fails, tell anecdotes to pass the time.
  • If someone is talking on their phone or having a side conversation, politely and directly telling them to be silent or go outside will earn the audience’s respect.
    • Keep in mind that people on their laptop or phone might be live-messaging or taking notes, so they might not be ignoring you.
  • Being interesting with a valuable idea will send mixed messages, and some people will oppose you.
    • Have a plan in place for people who try to derail the discussion, especially in a question-and-answer session.
  • Constantly ask yourself self-critical questions throughout the speech:
    • Do they know this fact or lesson already?
    • Do they need me to explain this point differently?
    • Are they saturated with information and need a break or a laugh?
    • Are they too cocky and need a challenge?

Try to get feedback afterward:
  • Record yourself with video to review how you did.
  • Since they were likely forced to listen and don’t have a bias for you, ask what the camera and sound operators thought.
  • Ask people what they thought, then listen without judgment.
  • If you want specific feedback, have cards prepared for them with variations of the following:
    • Was this a good use of your time, and why?
    • Would you recommend this lecture to others?
    • Is there anything you’re considering doing different because of this talk?
    • Do you know what to do next to continue learning?
    • Were you inspired or motivated?
    • How likeable did you find the speaker?
    • How substantive did you find the speaker’s material?
  • Contrary to intuition, you’ve given a great presentation when people want you to have spoken longer.