Promise, rehearse, let go
Promise, rehearse, let go
Public speaking lessons from the 2CO conference
What makes you remember one talk but not the next one?
Last week I attended the 2C04 Communicating Complexity conference in Barcelona. It was a lovely event with a few dozen presentations on topics from colours to ethics to experience design. But as much as I’d like to say that I listened to and can remember all the talks, that’s simply not true.
So what makes or breaks a talk? How can you increase your chances of being one of the speakers who leaves a mark? Let’s look at three simple habits that can make a difference for your next event or meeting.
Make a promise
How long do you have until the audience decides if they’ll listen to you or not? Not long, probably less than a minute. That means your opening plays a key role in the success of your presentation. I’ve written about engaging hooks many times, and it’s still a hill I’m willing to die on. But today I’d like to expand on that idea and introduce a subsequent concept: a promise.
After you catch your audience’s attention with an out-of-the-ordinary hook and provide some context, you’ll want to announce what’s coming next. Typically, we see slides like “agenda: overview, findings and next steps”. While it’s good to have a structure, it’s not enough for your listeners to know if your content will be worth their while. So on top of a structure announcement, make them a promise on the value you’ll bring. For example:
“In the next 10 minutes, you’ll learn about three projects where data is used to create change”
“Come along on a journey of self-improvement and learn how to boost your career”
“By the end of this talk, you’ll have learned three actionable public speaking tips”
Much better, isn’t it?
Next time you speak, make a promise. And then deliver on it.
Rehearse
Can the audience tell if you’ve prepared for your talk? Absolutely. It shows up in the small details, like time management and slide mastery. And it can be a game changer for keeping their attention.
I was one of the speakers at 2CO4 and received lovely positive feedback afterward. Did I give an exceptional talk? No. It was a simple 12-minute presentation with three project examples. What made a difference was the fact that I rehearsed. And it showed. Here’s how you can do the same:
Know your script. Improvised content is unlikely to stick. For this presentation, I wrote the entire script down once to count the total number of words. I know I speak about 120 words per minute, so the script allowed me to ensure the talk wasn’t too long. Even though I wrote it all down, I didn’t learn it by heart: I rehearsed with the text in mind and changed some sentences each time (which was 10 times in total—a bit more than once a day starting a week before the event).
Prepare the transitions. Switching seamlessly from one section to another can make the flow. Instead of moving on with a quick note of “OK, so here’s another example”, I created meaningful connections between them. For instance, as I moved from a personal, local example to a global one, I spoke about how rare local projects are and that we often need to work on a larger scale.
Know your slides. You should be able to switch slides without looking at the computer and still keep talking. I held a clicker in my hand and couldn’t see the screen share behind me. However, I had practiced with the visual support and knew 99% of the time where the slides were at. And you can do the same with just a few minutes of rehearsal a day. So do that, and please don’t ever say things like “I didn’t think this was in there” or “I forgot to update this slide”.
Next time you speak, rehearse. It will show your audience that you’re respectful of their time and attention.
Let go
The above examples—and public speaking tips in general—can sometimes put pressure on us. If we just follow them to the letter, we’ll achieve perfection, right? Well, maybe. But perfection isn’t the goal. Your job is to have a clear message and respect your audience’s time. If you’ve done that, any unexpected imperfections that come your way can actually help you connect with the listeners.
Liz Bravo gave a talk at 2CO4 to present a recent project by ODEGI Chile on creating personal profiles made of dye with little girls. She started by saying that she was thrilled to present and also felt nervous. We (aka people in the room) could hear it in her voice but it didn’t take anything away from the quality of her content; in fact, we cheered even more for her success.
Then, in the middle of the talk, her computer died. Any presenter’s nightmare, am I right? It took Liz about a minute to plug it back in and restart the slideshow. She was mortified and kept apologising. Do you think that annoyed the audience and made them impatient? Not at all. Quite the opposite. Since Liz was so authentic from the beginning, everyone cheered her on and gave her a round of applause when she was able to continue. At the end of the talk, she got the longest ovation compared to any other speaker of the entire conference, and many of us in the room were moved to tears.
Next time you speak, prepare well but be yourself. Especially when the unexpected happens.
Promise, rehearse and let go. Keep these in mind for your next presentation and see how that will improve your rapport with the audience.
Happy speaking!
See you in two weeks,
—Evelina
💎 People to follow
I met a lot of new people at the conference last week, all of them fascinating. But I’m mostly impressed by the young generation of dataviz designers who are doing incredible work. In that spirit, I highly encourage you to follow: