

Breathing Is the Key to Persuasive Public Speaking - dpflan
https://hbr.org/2015/06/breathing-is-the-key-to-persuasive-public-speaking

======
ajuc
I've never realized how hard it is to speak publicly until I had to do public
presentation.

I was so stressed I rushed through the material and I was taking too shallow
breaths, too rarely. 20 minutes into presentation I had to make 5-minute pause
just to catch some air, I was literally exhausted by talking :)

Few people from our team (programmers, ui designers, testers) had
presentations, and we all learnt a lot. It's surprisingly hard.

~~~
Nimitz14
...did you not learn how to do presentations in school?

~~~
eitally
Most people don't. Not that they don't give presentations in school, but they
are absolutely not either graded or coached on presentation skills, only on
content (since most of the time it's presentation of a research project).

------
sopooneo
I would say the single most important part of public speaking, which should
encapsulate everything else is _rehearse_. It can feel weird and contrived to
have three of your colleagues sitting in front of you pretending to be an
audience, but it's enough to make it feel real, and let you run into most of
your issues ahead of the real thing.

Then you go back, fix what you can, and rehearse again. You want to have some
"muscle memory" to fall back on during the real event.

~~~
noir_lord
Rehearsing in front of a webcam is also very useful.

Make sure you are standing up in roughly the position you will be giving your
talk in, set it to record and then have at it (I find it helps if you _can 't_
see yourself while recording).

Then play over the recording, if you use VLC it has a useful trick in that you
can speed up playback without affecting pitch (saves time and makes it
_really_ obvious at 1.5x if you are talking too fast, you should be legible at
150 percent).

Make notes where you stumbled and/or were not clear then go over it again.

Oh and if you have slides you can run through them on the machine in front of
you (instead of behind your or off to the side) which really helps as well.

~~~
dpflan
Rehearsing in front a webcam seems like one step from submitting your
rehearsal to a service that can critique your presentation. The service could
go through a checklist of fundamental variables that are deemed highly
correlated with successful presentations, and you could receive timely and
useful feedback. Is there such a service? @noir_lord

~~~
noir_lord
Not that I'm aware of but it would be useful, an impartial third party
watching your talk would be less intimidating than getting someone you know,
hell you could have someone go over the slide deck as well for common errors.

...and now I'm thinking of how you'd build that and how the UX would work,
damnit I have enough side projects I want to build ;).

~~~
dpflan
Load the decks and live stream and record the video: Basic screen: [ | ]
[-video- | -deck-] [ event_timeline ]

Allow the presenter to move through the deck on the service so there is a
timeline of events of video and deck traversal. Then reviewer can highlight
key moments on the timeline with notes that are part of an overall critique.

User presentation is the base. Deck critique comes at a premium.

\--Edit-- HN didn't like my formatted 'mock' screen.

~~~
noir_lord
Indeed, thinking client side, split screen for uploading video and deck with a
notes/goal box underneath (things like Target audience, group demographics,
expected venue).

On the backside have a review interface with video front and sent and controls
underneath, like "Add Note" which pauses the video and enters the time stamp
and note into a formatted list, once review is marked completed it transfers
that list into the feedback part which also has a notes section for things
like body language and such.

Once complete email the user with a link to the review page that has the video
and the timeline underneath, make the timeline clickable so the user can jump
straight to each note and either accept or decline the review (that way you
have a metric of what criticism people respond to positively and negatively).

Handling the deck is more of an issue, powerpoint isn't a problem but you will
get all sorts of whacky formats (people using Beamer, javascript based stuff),
You can generally get those out in PDF format in one form or another though so
maybe accept PDF and Powerpoint (or in the case of the javascript based ones
perhaps a zip file for techie audience).

I wonder what you could charge that out at, reviewing a 45 minute talk and
slides properly would probably take an hour/hour and half and also what kind
of turn around people would want (possibly with increased pricing for a faster
turn around).

EDIT: Thinking about it, you could actually have multiple reviewers in key
demographics as well for more targeted talks with variable rates.

EDIT: You could also have multiple reviewers (extra charge) so that you can
get a different perspective

~~~
dpflan
Hm, interested in sharing some more ideas on this? Like a crappy prototype?

~~~
noir_lord
I'm snowed under with current startup, side project and client work
(bootstrapping is hard!) but if you do anything with it I'd love to see the
outcome, drop me an email at ben@metasoftware.co.uk :)

~~~
dpflan
Understood, thanks for your contact info.

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jessaustin
_Picture a piece of sashimi: a thin slice of fish over a bed of rice._

I think the word you're looking for is "nigiri".

------
rm_-rf_slash
Breathing is generally underrated as the core of everything you do. A lot of
people starting out at Kung Fu tend to get bored and quit after dealing with
breathing exercises, but without controlling your breath, you can't expect to
fully control your body.

~~~
theseatoms
Likewise, there is an analogous practice to yoga known as pranayama, the
practice the breath (vs the body).

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bhartzer
I did my first presentation at a tech-related conference back in 2003. It took
me 10 years and speaking at about 100 conferences to get over the
"nervousness" that came before I spoke. Now it's easier for me, it really just
takes practice.

But it also really, REALLY helps if you know your subject inside-and-out. That
way if you start stumbling, you can talk your way through it and 'improvise'.

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drb311
Good breathing will help but it's not the key. The best starting point for
nervous public speakers is:
[http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013/10/4/presentation-skills-
co...](http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013/10/4/presentation-skills-considered-
harmful)

Focus on their needs not your technique. Everything else is artifice.

~~~
2close4comfort
But without it you would die. So being able to remain conversant and at ease
with your topic and audience might also be considered good. Fear of the
unknown is what'll get you. I find being nervous helpful in that my habits
when nervous are repetitively re-checking my preparations, which usually lead
me to finding that key item(s) I might miss if I were more cavalier.

------
Balgair
Looking through the comments here really makes me glad I was in the scouts.
Putting the long struggle for equal treatment aside for a moment, the scouts
did a great job with the public speaking side of things. Most of it was to
present to your fellow scouters, and this gave a lot of practice for the young
kids. This was especially hard, as most of the people you are trying to teach
a knot to are between 11 and 16, not the most disciplined bunch. There were
also times when you had to talk to the adults and present your aims and what
happened on a raft trip, for example. Though relatively 'lite' in content, my
experience was that the adults still expected top notch skill, _and then would
take the time to build them with you_. As such, I always see these tip and
tricks pages and think 'Doesn't everyone know that already?'

Still, great reminder and good advice from the OP.

------
dpflan
Coursera has a University of Washington public speaking course, Introduction
to Public Speaking.

[https://www.coursera.org/learn/public-
speaking](https://www.coursera.org/learn/public-speaking)

~~~
thanatropism
That's more about organizing a talk in memorable points than overcoming
shyness/vocal technique, etc. A lot of it is useful for essay-writing as well.

(To be fair: I must have followed through with a third of it before priorities
took over)

~~~
dpflan
You took the course? Was it not compelling enough to complete?

~~~
thanatropism
I never complete Coursera courses. That's probably more on me than them.

~~~
dpflan
It's not just you (don't blame yourself!). It's almost everyone: MOOC
attrition is high and retention is low. The low barrier to access and the even
lower repercussions for not finishing are influential:

1\. [http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/mooc-completion-and-
rete...](http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/mooc-completion-and-retention-
context-student-intent)

2\.
[http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-10671-7_4...](http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-10671-7_4#page-1)

3\. [http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/retention-and-
intention-...](http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/retention-and-intention-
massive-open-online-courses-depth-0)

------
kelukelugames
I always forget to breathe when I am deadlifting at the gym or whiteboarding
in an interview.

------
spdustin
I've been a public speaker for 12+ years now. I've come up with my own kit of
advice for friends / peers / family members who are going to be in front of an
audience. Generalizations can be argued against, but in my experience, not
successfully. :)

Every time you get in front of an audience, remember: they came to see you
succeed. Nobody (whose opinion matters) goes to plays, presentations or
speeches to watch the on-stage talent crash and burn. They want to be
entertained, or to be informed, or to experience catharsis. They have no
reason to believe you're not qualified to speak, and they're subconsciously
rooting for you because it is rewarding for the audience when you do well, and
embarrassing for them when you do not.

Bring water. Take pauses every few minutes to take a drink. It helps regulate
breathing.

Don't use colloquialisms without crafting a turn of phrase that explains it
for those who don't understand. Don't use pop-culture references in
presentations. Your audience may know you a little from a speaker bio, but you
are even less likely to know their cultural background, and the awkward
silence that follows a failed "Mr. Burns from The Simpsons" reference will
only force you to get inside your own head. Which brings me to:

Stay out of your head. Meaning: don't present material that you haven't
practiced unless your particular brain excels at improvisation or social
engineering, because you can't be THINKING about all that info and your
presentation skills WHILE you're presenting. Practice speaking slowly, clearly
and authoritatively, know your schedule for the talk, and KNOW YOUR SHIT ( a
colloquialism meaning that you should be well-versed in the subject matter of
your presentation). If you are unpracticed or only superficially aware of your
subject matter, you will make mistakes that you will suddenly find yourself
analyzing without your own permission. Your brain will put on the brakes,
bringing your presentation to a screeching halt, and start to pick apart every
little thing that happened and every little thing you're about to do. When
someone "chokes" during a public performance, they've gotten into their own
head. "Auto-pilot" \- being able to perform without conscious step-by-step
thought - is your best weapon here; that only comes from an easy comfort with
the material and, unless you're already a skilled public speaker, practice.

TL;DR?: Your audience is rooting for you; stop and sip water frequently; don't
be a clever wordsmith (or a cunning linguist, if that helps you remember?)
unless you know your audience will "get it"; and for the love off all that is
good in the world, know the room, know the schedule and know your shit, or
you'll choke and that makes a whole room full of people feel much more
uncomfortable than you, because when they sat down, they already mentally
prepared for you to be good.

~~~
6stringmerc
Just a some affirmation of the above, as I think many people would be well
served to study the guidance.

My background? Both stage performance experience in music alongside academic
(National Forensics League) and professional (presentation development and
coaching in Fortune-level corporations) public speaking roles. Guitarist for
20 years or so, did public speaking and acting for about 10 counting high
school and college, and another 5-6 working in the trenches of B2B sales
(RFPs, etc) as a blend of creative / technical / team manager.

To add a bit of side-note, I'd like to point out that humor tends to be so
highly subjective that it's best to avoid trying to go there (akin to avoiding
pop-culture). Being clever or witty is a way to show off, in such a format,
and there's no reason to try and show off when the room is already yours,
practically speaking.

To me, it's a large turn-off when such deviations from the plan show up -
being competent means being engaging, and through engagement the audience will
appreciate the presentation for what it is doing / trying to convey.

Allowing questions during a presentation is not preferred, but if presenting
to a potential client, sometimes inevitable. I use the phrase "bus out of
nowhere" to try and prepare people to be able to handle a difficult or even
insulting question without totally losing footing. It's like a car crash, just
let it happen in slow motion, hang on, and don't make any sudden moves to go
in a different direction...just get through the question, avoid trying to be
clever or witty in response, and get back to the script.

I think Willie Nelson also had a relevant piece of advice regarding
performing, in that it's good to get some practice in, but don't over-work
something to the point of it being robotic. The performance should have some
of that liveliness that comes from knowing something well but walking the line
of risking that a mistake could happen...that's what can be so compelling
about a great speaker, there's a mix of energy, competence, and human nature
that gets people to tune in.

~~~
spdustin
"Bus out of nowhere" \- well said. Whenever those derailing questions/comments
come out - pretty rare, but worth preparing for - that's great advice to just
... stop. Take a drink. Respond respectfully, punt to post-session
conversation if possible, thank them, and move on. The audience won't even
know what happened if you smoothly slide back into your routine.

------
yellowapple
"Picture a piece of sashimi: a thin slice of fish over a bed of rice."

That ain't sashimi; that's nigiri.

