Here are some tips that helped me improve my public speaking:
ā Instead of asking people "was it okay?", I ask "What did I miss or how could I improve it?", seek out people that will give you brutally honest feedback and thank them for it.
ā Every slide I have, I think "what am I trying to tell people with this?" - if I don't know, I remove it or redo it
ā Less is usually more. One of the best things I did was a few "lightning talks", take a subject you usually do a talk about with a 5 minute time limit. You soon learn which bits are the chaff and which bits are vital.
ā People can read faster than you can talk. If you're reading out a slide to someone, they aren't listening to you.
ā Ideally, you should be able to give your talk without the slides. The slides should be *adding* to the experience.
ā Enjoy it, have fun, be human, make a connection, laugh at your own mistakes. Trip up on your way on stage? That's one way to break the ice! :)
ā People can retain a huge amount of information if presented in a story format. Link ideas together, use metaphors, don't just info dump.
ā Kelvin Newman's favourite - bullet points kill kittens
Although I scored well, I *still* got some valuable feedback from the audience, which Sƶren Bendig turned into a solid idea to improve my next talk, which I will be doing!
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