Talk Preparation

There is a huge difference between going to a Pink concert and watching someone sing a Pink song at Karaoke night in the local pub, no matter how good the pub singer's vocals are (and some of them are excellent).

You might say one is a professional and the other an amateur, but what does that actually mean? The difference is, more than anything else, in the preparation.

For our introductory session for speakers at TEDxRuakura, I would have them watch a couple of speaker videos from other TEDx events I had personally attended and discuss them in the session. (The two videos are below.)

We would discuss who had the better credibility or authority. Who would they prefer to talk to after the event if they had to choose between the two? Who would they trust on their own stage or trust to work alongside?

It is always an interesting discussion. Lynn often vies closely with Dale for authority/credibility because we almost feel we should respect her more because of her story. However, this authority is significantly impaired by her poor performance and reliance on notes throughout her presentation.

On the other hand, Dale dresses and speaks casually. He is clear about who he is, and he is not trying to pretend to be anyone he isn’t. His passion comes through. Because of his casual dress and tone, some in our discussion suggest he is less credible or less authoritative. Others strenuously disagree and suggest that the ease he has on stage and the level of connection he gets with his audience make him more credible.

But if You Had a Stage…?

Regardless, the group usually agrees that if they had a stage looking for a speaker, they would prefer Dale, and most of them would prefer to collaborate with Dale over Lynn. We then discuss what we like and dislike about each speaker. I won’t go into that here, but I suggest you watch the videos and write your thoughts.

Our point to our speakers is that people will judge their talks years from now. The difference between good and poor preparation is obvious. Dale was obviously very prepared; he’d put a lot of work in. But it didn’t really feel like it. It felt authentic and spontaneous, as it was supposed to.

On the other hand, Lynn would likely have been dropped from our event had she wanted to deliver a talk with that level of preparation. I regret only three speakers over all the years of doing the events. Two, I would have dropped, and one, I would have pushed much harder in a better direction. In the future, I will be much more stringent on who I drop.

Credibility & Authority are Paid For by Preparation

Ultimately, those who need to read notes, cards, or, heaven help me, slides are ill-prepared and immediately lose credibility and authority. This is my big message for the first session of the speakers. I only want to work with speakers willing to do the work so they can give a 15 minute talk without notes.

There is always some pushback.

• I can’t memorise a talk

• If I memorise it, I will sound robotic

• I work best riffing on an outline

• I don’t have time to memorise my talk.

Only one of these is a valid excuse. If you feel you don’t have time (remembering ALL of our TEDx speakers are extremely busy people), then you are probably right and should drop out now.

You Can Do This

Just because you have not successfully memorised a talk before doesn’t mean you can’t memorise one now, particularly since I am here to show you how. Riffing on an outline is okay for some events, training, or workshops. I certainly don’t memorise my presentation of workshops word-for-word. But when it is a big event, where the video is going on one of the most prestigious platforms on the internet with millions of daily views and will be there for years to come. -You put in the work.

But the most common excuse is the nonsense about not sounding robotic.

Let’s go back to the Pink concert. How disappointed would you be if she had to pull out a piece of paper to read the lyrics while performing? It doesn’t happen because she has put in the work and memorised it. Does she sound robotic? No. Because she practised with the emotion she wanted to put into the song. It is a performance. And your talk, done well, is every bit as much a performance and deserves the effort you put into it.

At this point in the OTS series, we have clarity on what we want to achieve with our talk. We have determined and scripted our audience's logical and emotional journeys. We have crafted a compelling close with a call to action that empowers and activates our audience. We have crafted an opening that grabs their attention, makes promises we can keep and builds their intrigue and curiosity to hear more.

The Next Level

This is a step change in the process.

We now move from working on our talk to working in our talk. Until now, we have been working abstractly, creating the blueprint for a talk. At this point, we begin to bring that talk to life.

At this point, I need to point out a misconception that most of us have about memorisation, which is important when we switch gears. Most of us think about memorisation as a visual thing. We read something. We memorise the words written on a page. And when we recite those words, we try to bring up that image and read those words off the screen of our mind.

If you do that, you will sound robotic—just as you would if reading an actual script on stage- because that is what you are doing!

By comparison, think of one of your favourite songs. If you were to sing it in the shower or sing along to it in the car, you would not be reading the words from the screen of your mind, would you? You are using the queues of the music, the rhythm, and the story of the song to recall the right words. And if you forget a few words, it is usually because you haven’t heard or sung that song in a long time.

We need to make this switch now while preparing for your talk. We are moving from the visual to the other senses: Oral, Aural and Kinaesthetic.

You remember the song through the rhythm and how the words are sung. Sometimes, you may remember certain words because of the instrumentation or because of the dance moves that accompany them. This is the type of memorisation that we are going to tap into.

So, we are going to memorise your talk in a similar way to how you might learn a song. Your talk is almost like a concert comprising several ‘songs’ or stories. Initially, Pink won’t be rehearsing all the songs for the concert. She will probably do that later on, but at the beginning, she will pick some songs to practice and go through them repeatedly.

She will record what she has sung, play it back while listening, and make mental notes of things she likes or doesn’t like and changes she wants to make. She may sing one quite differently to see if she likes it that way, and she may keep it or part of it that way, or she might drop the whole thing.

This is precisely how you will memorise your talk.

The Memorisation Process

You will pick one of your Chunks and maybe read it through once. But you will then put the paper away. You will not read or take notes for the rest of the session. Everything in the session must be done in your head.

When you are ready, you will speak it out loud and record it. You will then play it back and listen to it critically. Initially, you will most likely change the story's word choice or order. But in one of these sessions, you will record and listen to the same chunk at least seven times.

As you become more comfortable with this, you will start fine-tuning the rhythm, pace, pitch, pauses and other performative aspects, including gestures. The sooner you add all these additional aspects, the easier you will find it to remember, just like you may need to hum the tune before you remember the lyrics to a song.

Early on in the process, you will practice just one chunk at a time until you are happy with it. When you are happy with them, you will start practising several chunks together, one after another. At this point, you want to see how they bridge from one to the other and strengthen that tie.

I recommend mixing it up and not going through your talk linearly. Don’t just practice the first chunk until you are happy and then work on the next chunk, etc. I find it best if you practice a random chunk or series of chunks anywhere in your talk. Work on something you want to work on. Sometimes, this will be something you have trouble with and want to improve; sometimes, it is something you like, are excited about, and want to make even better.

Eventually, you will get to the point where you record and listen to all of the chunks in order from beginning to end. You will be surprised at how easy it is after you have put in the work.

Conclusion

Preparation is what separates amateurs from professionals in all types of performance. Stand-up comedians doing their one-hour special have their set memorised. Musical performers like Pink have their concerts memorised. But they don’t sound robotic because they have gone past the point where they have to think about what comes next.

When you do this work, stand on stage in front of a crowd, and know your material so well that you don’t have to think about it, it is a transformative experience. You know it so well that you are not frozen in fear; you can relax and enjoy the moment.

You can connect with the audience because you are not trapped thinking about what comes next. On the spur of the moment, you can add something or change the order because you know your stuff so well that you can play with it.

Your talk will feel like it took both an eternity and an instant. You will leave that stage feeling like you are walking on air. It is an amazing feeling I want to share with as many people as possible. And it all pivots on this preparation phase of the process.

In this preparation phase, we start to play with performance, but I haven’t gone into performance in detail here, as there is a lot to that, and we can look at that in the next part of the series.

Virtual Speakers Success Summit

I am stoked to share an exciting opportunity I am a part of – the upcoming Virtual Speakers Success Summit, a gathering of pioneers, thought leaders, and visionaries. This virtual event promises to be a ground-breaking experience, and I want YOU to be a part of it.

What’s in Store?

• 🎙️ Insightful sessions from industry leaders, including yours truly!

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My session, “Finding Your Topic,” will explore narrowing vast expertise into a compelling 45-minute talk. It is ideal for those struggling to distill their knowledge into a digestible presentation. I will unpack some of my best ideas and practices that can revolutionise your audience's experience.

EVENT DETAILS:

• 🗓️ Date: May 8 - 10, 2024, from 

• 🌍 Platform: Zoom

• 🕒 Time: 9 AM Pacific / 12 Noon Eastern / 5 PM UK to 4.15 PM Pacific / 7.15 PM Eastern / 12.15 AM UK

So, what are you waiting for? Register today and secure your spot. Let’s explore new horizons together and make meaningful advancements in our field.
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I can’t wait to see you there!

P.S. Bring your questions and curiosity. It’s going to be engaging, enlightening, and yes – transformative!

P.P.S. The opportunities I have unlocked through the international exposure gained by participating in these events have transformed my business. Check the Summit out to see how it can transform yours…

Unpacking Wisdom is a weekly section where I dive into a famous (or not so famous) quote and explore how this can apply to the Compelling Communicator.

I love Terry Pratchett’s writing because it is so clever.

This play on the speed of light taps into something we know well but makes us look at it differently. Terry does this a lot, and you can too. If you take something familiar and reframe it in a new way, you will be more memorable and potentially viral as others repeat it.

Terry’s framing of this makes us want to find its lesson.

If you can frame your observation in a similar way, you can expand on it to make the point you want to make.

For example, I could use Terry’s observation above when talking about confidence from the stage in the context of the main post of this article:

“We often think we need to outrun or outwit our fears through techniques like breathing or controlling our focus. But the reality is that we are running towards our fears by choosing to speak on the stage.
Therefore, we need to bring the light of preparation to dispel the darkness of our fears.”

So try to create a quote regarding something familiar in a different way that invites speculation, and then supply a meaning that makes sense in the context of your topic. This will add something useful to your talk.

What I am up to this week…

Professionally:

After a month of quiet, I am now deluged with work. I have the presentation next week at the Virtual Speakers Success Summit, and I am filming an educational piece in another city.

Recreationally:

Improv is starting back up and I am looking forward to stretching my comfort zone once more.

What I am watching:

I watched The Salute of the Jugger and can’t believe I didn’t see it a few decades ago. Definitely a cult classic film.