Last week, I spoke about technology change leadership at Open Source North. It was a lot of fun. In case you missed it, I drew heavily from these past Zach on Leadership articles:

• Lead Change Like Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Leadership Lessons from Losing the BlackBerry
• The Jedi Mind Trick: Influencing Others Without Them Knowing It
• We’re Going Big on Cloud Technology. Here’s the Strategy.
• Leading Change: Don’t Just Focus on the Solution

Today’s article isn’t about the content of that presentation. It’s about the experience itself. I had an epiphany: I wasn’t nervous at all. I genuinely enjoyed the speaking opportunity. I was relaxed. It was fun.

If I go back 15 years in time, the past version of me could have never imagined me making a statement like that. I had a serious fear of public speaking, and it was a liability that I needed to overcome. 9 years ago, I was well on my way to getting competent, and I wrote an article on Zach on Leadership called “10 Public Speaking Hacks for Geeks.” This isn’t everything I know. I’ve certainly advanced my skills since then, but looking back, it still holds up. I put all of these hacks into practice last week, and this represents a core part of my style.

So, I thought it was time to reshare it. Why? Because many of my readers are right where I was. This isn’t an advanced master class on how to be the next TED Talker. This is a starting point for how to get on stage and make an impact. If you need to get started, this is what you need. I present to you my article, written 9 years ago. I stand by it today. Enjoy:

10 Public Speaking Hacks for Geeks

I’m an introverted technology geek, so by nature, I enjoy talking to computers a whole lot more than talking to actual humans. However, as I started to emerge as a technology leader, I realized that in the marketplace of ideas, it’s not the best ideas that win, but the best communicated ideas that win. Generally, I feel that I am a pretty effective communicator, but there was one form of it that strikes fear into my heart: public speaking. About five years ago, I decided that if I really wanted to be an effective technology leader, I needed to learn to be a competent public speaker.

There are so many general tips and tricks for public speaking available. You can picture the audience naked, or join a Toastmasters club, but I want to share the not-so-obvious techniques and hacks that really work well for me.

1. Seek and take many opportunities: Practice is important, but there’s nothing like the real thing to make you better. I started looking for any and all forums inside and outside the company to speak. Not all opportunities are equal. For instance, speaking in front of your company executives is particularly unnerving, since theoretically, they can fire you if you sound like a rambling fool. I like to find outside venues like conferences and workshops. The worst that can happen there is that they simply won’t invite you back.

2. Get feedback: Self-awareness is shockingly hard to achieve in public speaking. My self-perception is sometimes far from the truth, so it’s great when the speaking forum has a feedback mechanism built in, like a scoring-review card that the event organizers share with you afterward. Video recordings are even better. Honestly, I cringe in misery when I watch myself on video, but it’s necessary to self-evaluate. Finally, if none of those are available, sneak a friend into the audience, and have them tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly afterward.

3. Over-prepare: I decided that it was unlikely that I would ever be the best speaker at a given event, but I could be the best-prepared speaker. And if I over-prepared, it increased my chances of being average or slightly above-average. I memorize my presentations. I rehearse 8-12 times, which is a major investment in time, but necessary. Memorization does two things: First, it eases my nerves because I have it down cold. Second, it frees me to be engaging and interactive with the audience since I don’t need to spend my brain power thinking of what I’m going to say next.

4. Pick topics that you are passionate about: I’m not a good enough speaker to talk effectively on any randomly assigned topic. I just can’t do it. I’m not particularly charismatic, so it’ll just flop. So, I only talk about things I’m truly jazzed about. That enthusiasm energizes the presentation. Without it, I really cannot perform.

5. Find a way to turn it into a conversation early: When starting a presentation, my nerves take control of my body. No amount of “using the force” will stop my leg from shaking, so I needed another trick. I found that if I can get some interaction from the audience early, it tricks my body into thinking this isn’t really a speech, it’s a conversation, and that’s safe, you won’t die.

6. Make the intro short: I try not to ramble on about myself in the beginning. While experts say that you need to establish credibility, I think I can do it in a minute or less. No one wants to hear me go on and on about my pedigree. It makes me sound pompous and boring.

7. Be funny: Without exaggeration, I try to inject as many jokes as possible into my presentation. I don’t think I could do too much, as I’m not at risk for being mistaken for a stand-up comic. Humor does two things: It makes memory-markers for the audience, so they actually remember what you talked about. More importantly, it gets me smiling, which, even though I am a happy individual, I tend to go stone-cold serious when I speak. It also relaxes me and calms my nerves when I see the audience laughing at my jokes. I do this more for myself than for the audience.

8. Be vulnerable: Keep it real. Sounding overly perfect or expert-like is boring. While it’s important to establish some credibility, it’s equally important to be vulnerable about mistakes and lessons learned. This makes the speaker a lot more accessible. People aren’t looking for a hero, but more of a guide that is only slightly further along the path than they are.

9. Use PowerPoint: People say PowerPoint is dead. People decry presentations that are “death by PowerPoint.” I disagree. I found that it is helpful to me as a speaker if I give my audience something to look at other than me. A hundred eyes directly on me is more unnerving than a hundred eyes slightly behind and to the left of me. I use a lot of images and very few words. I’ve developed a style of using rapid-fire image-rich slide shows to punctuate my talks. It helps me, helps the audience, and keeps the presentation from getting boring. No one wants to stare at one slide for more than a minute or two. If you’d like to see this technique in action, see my BriForum presentations here and here.

10. Be alone before and after: Public speaking is a very extraverted thing to do. Being an introvert, this is foreign territory so I find it very helpful to be completely alone for a good period of time immediately before and immediately after the presentation to give me poise. I didn’t come up with this idea, I read it in this book: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Highly recommended reading.

That’s my list. I hope you find it helpful. This is an important skill for every leader to develop. Even though I am about five years into my intentional journey to improve this skill, I have a very long way to go. Do you have tips, tricks, or hacks to share on the topic? Please share them in the comments below so we can all get better. Thanks for reading!

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