
An underrated way to improve your craft

SUPER SPEAKER CHALLENGE: MARCH 2019
As I write this, it’s March and Spring’s afoot.
Time for our next Speaker Challenge.
This month it would be brilliant if you could do the following:
- Take 3 mins and write down your biggest unanswered questions about public speaking. What are the elements that you really want to get better at? Whether it’s… ‘How to create a compelling beginning?’ or ‘How to use stories effectively in my talks?’
- Pick a talk to watch through this filter.
If you are looking for a place to start TED.com has a wide range of talks that are all 18 mins or less. - Note down any ways in which the speaker engages with the element you are examining. Is it effective? Why?
Or what isn’t working about it? What might you do differently?
I see it as similar to the need for writers to both read and write if they want to improve.
As a speaker, yes you want to get lots of practice speaking. But there’s also a lot you can learn about the craft from studying others.
And in case you’re wondering…I still watch talks on a regular basis, outside of my client work. I share the strengths of some of them here. (Right now, I am committed to watching more talks that aren’t in English, for multiple reasons. So this list also includes one in Spanish, and one in French; I watched with subtitles. I’ll be adding more throughout the year.)
You could also consider picking a talk to watch and discuss with others, book club style. It can be really fun comparing notes; we all notice such different things.