Professor Patrick Winston @ MIT: We will be evaluated based on our ability to speak, our ability to write, and on the quality of our ideas — IN THAT ORDER!
My takeaways from Prof. Winston’s legendary lecture on How To Speak
- How to start? Never start with a joke because people are not ready for it. Start with a powerful empowerment promise — “today, you are going to learn how to be an amazing speaker.”
- Cycle content: Repeat stuff three times. People forget
- Put a fence around your idea so that it is not confused with someone else’s — “my algorithm is similar to my brother’s except that mine is exponential, and his algorithm is linear.”
- Verbal punctuation — pause adequately.
- Ask a question to get people back into the zone — a 7-second pause is acceptable to wait for a response
- TIME: If you have the liberty to choose time then 11 AM is an excellent time to give a talk
- PLACE: It should be VERY well lit. It should be CASED — you should scope out the site for weirdnesses. Don’t get too large an area or too small a place (min 50% occupancy)
- Use a BOARD when you’re INFORMING. Use SLIDES when you’re EXPOSING. Writing on the board offers the perfect speed to absorb. Board can be a target because you suddenly discover you have hands and can use them to point even at random stuff 🙂
- Props and blackboards are more effective than slides
- Physically, don’t be too far from the slides. The distance turns the talk into a tennis match
- Avoid titles on the slide — we have only a language processor, and it can solely focus on one thing. You can even avoid bullets beside the text, YES. So many people would find this counter-intuitive
- Laser pointers are a crime because when you use them, people see the back of your head
- Hapax Legomenon — you can commit the crime only ONCE. That crime is presenting a complex slide. Use that slide to convey the message that something is complicated.
- If you’re giving a job talk such as an interview — outline your vision and the fact that you’ve done something in the past or are going to do. Do it in the first five minutes. Vision: problem in the job and your approach to solving it. Doing something: Series of steps that you have taken or intend to take to solve problems.
- Speaking well can make you famous. Why should you care about getting famous? You don’t want your ideas to die unknown. You get used to being famous, but you don’t get used to being ignored
- Final side: QUESTIONS? — is the worst possible way to end a talk. End by YOUR unique contributions — what are your learnings?
- Final words: A joke can work here. Don’t say thank you because it’s a weak move. You can salute the audience. Praise them how fascinated you’re by their interest in the topic. You can say that you hope to be back. Shake hands, and people will start clapping.
Rohan Manchanda 