Comments on: Sometimes I Fail at Public Speaking

By: Trixter

Trixter — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:00:00 +0000

One thing that helped me prepare for my first presentation (in front of 50 people at age 35) was this lynda.com course:

http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=192

It’s not a powerpoint tutorial but really a course on how to give a presentation.

I have no affiliation with lynda.com, just a satisfied customer.

By: DMZilla

DMZilla — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:04:00 +0000

Over the last few months I’ve been required to give presentations to groups ranging from 3 to 20+ people. My career path will eventually require me to talk to even larger groups, so hopefully I can get into some public speaking classes. I don’t want to be that guy remembered for his painful conference speech.

By: Brian Shurtleff

Brian Shurtleff — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:46:00 +0000

Heh, both teaching at this camp and helping run two different student organizations (SCAD's game development group as well as their Improvisational theater club) have helped me with my public speaking. In both cases I can ad-lib fairly effectively because of my familiarity and training in each area.

But there was a time I tried to learn stand-up comedy as well, and foolishly thought my quick wit from my improv training would allow me to ad-lib something funny. I had a few previous shows (where I HAD prepared) that went okay, so my cockiness got the best of me and my third or fourth show I just hopped up on the stage with only a couple ideas in mind, thinking I could run with them as I went along.

That was the most awful and painful performance of anything I've ever given. It continues to haunt my mind.

Which is a good thing, because now I'm a lot more careful to prepare for any presentations I'm to give... ;)

By: Ian Schreiber

Ian Schreiber — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:46:00 +0000

It's strange, as long as I've known you I think this was the only time I've actually seen you present, so I was in the "looked fine to me" camp.

I do remember seeing you minutes before your first GDC speaking gig, and you were as nervous as I'd ever seen you :)

It's funny, when I gave my first presentations I totally overprepared, having all my materials and going through multiple dry runs. When I started teaching, I found out quickly that there was simply not enough time to do this for all my classes so I'd have to just write up my materials, read from my notes most of the time, and hope for the best. Then it became a habit and I started doing that at the occasional conference. On the bright side, teaching definitely helps me with my presentation skills. On the down side, it also makes me lazy because I'm realizing that I can usually do well enough without obsessive prep work.

So thanks for this post. It's a reminder that I should not let myself get too complacent. Especially not at GDC.

By: Daniel Benmergui

Daniel Benmergui — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:19:00 +0000

Yeah, you looked a little scared :).

By: Darius Kazemi

Darius Kazemi — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:12:00 +0000

That's definitely a danger but two things mitigate this.

1) I practice a lot beforehand, so I have most of the talk memorized. Therefore I only read when I'm forgetting something.

2) I have the ability to glance at a paragraph of text and recall all of its contents. It comes with practice.

By: Trixter

Trixter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:09:00 +0000

“I always have close to the full text of my talk in the slide notes.” Doesn’t that mean you spend more time reading than looking at the audience?