Tips for Presenting Without Reading Slides

The #1 skill to become an unforgettable public speaker (...you'll use this every time) As a public speaker, expect the unexpected. Because things will go wrong. And when they do, they can go HORRIBLY wrong! Like the projector not working right before you are due to give a presentation for 30 minutes type of wrong. What do you do? Here's the solution. You should be able to give your entire presentation without the slides. It might sound crazy. ’How the hell can I remember every single slide?’ But here’s the thing… If you can deliver the content and describe what was on those slides in a vivid way, you’ll keep your audience engaged no matter what. So then when everything is working perfectly and the slides are there - like they generally are - your talks will be outstanding. But in those rare instances where things do go terribly wrong, you’ll be the consummate professional. You’ll show the audience, who are likely there because they paid to hear you speak, that you can adapt and deliver no matter the circumstance. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about them. And not you, the presenter. They deserve the best value and content and version of you as possible. To make that happen: ✔️ Avoid making it a sales pitch at all costs. Nobody wants to hear that. ✔️Instead, add enthusiasm and energy. Get pumped up - it's contagious! ✔️ Use vivid examples and stories to describe concepts. Paint a picture for them. If you internalize this mindset of putting the audience first and deeply mastering your material... You'll handle any hiccup like a pro. And leave a lasting impression as the unforgettable speaker who delivered incredible value no matter what So start preparing relentlessly. Study backwards and forwards. Memorize key points fluently. When you put in that work upfront, no curveball can rattle you on stage.

Don’t say things written on your slides :: Misc Monday Taken (then abridged to fit) from Taro (YC S22) Slack, someone asked about presenting a short talk. — Perform/record the perfect demo beforehand, recorded. Many demos fail when an environment gets messed up. Choose to narrate in the video itself, or do narration real time while presenting. I like the latter… you can be more spontaneous and responsive. Ideally you share the video and can scrub as you go, which is better when there’s no audio built-in to the video. The more data you have about who is negatively impacted by the problem, or will be positively impacted by a feature, the better. That’s can go on a slide. “As you can see, the opportunity for impact is tremendous based on estimates” is a good versus reading “we believe this change will lead to a 2.2pp increase in engagement, which is an extra 27m interactions per day.” That’s boring, and no one will remember numbers you say. Assert at the beginning you will share slides. Many don’t share before a meeting, and don’t say they will until the end. This can lead to people focusing more on slides than you, or taking notes on something that will be trivial to look up. Don’t take questions. I hate it, but in a lightning format seconds matter, and often people use 9 minutes to present, then say they can take questions and go wildly over time. Give a forum for questions, whether it’s a thread in a team room, or a dedicated Q&A platform, etc, and make sure it’s linked in the slides. The video length is known. How long you talk outside the video is not. Record yourself doing the presentation as fast as you can, then with intentional pacing. Understand if you will talk for between 2 and 6 minutes or between 30s and 20m. Edit accordingly. Don’t fill time. If you’re done early, cut it short, be a hero. * Follow-up from asker: I have a lot of trouble with “don’t say things on slides” * My response: If you are presenting to children, read to them. Otherwise trust your audience can read, AND don’t make them read much. It may help to strip out whole sentences, leaving dates, impact numbers, teams you are coordinating with… tidbits. You can reference the data on a slide, as mentioned above something like “as you can see, there is significant cross-team dependencies, which will be a priority for the project eng lead, or TPM if we are able to allocate one to this project”. I am also not an expert, and have put plenty of things I then say on slides. What is difficult is you may want your slides to be a reference. What if someone didn’t come, but you promised slides? I would say to try not to fall into that. The slides are meant to facilitate your presentation, not be a reference for the project or whatever it is. If you think more detailed notes would be useful, write those in a wiki or shared doc or whatever, link it from a resources slide at the end of the deck, let people learn from that. Don’t ask the slides to make that heavy of a lift.

Tips for public speaking for security leaders: This is what I have learned from doing over 50 talks in the last 2 years. 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: - Launch right into the presentation. Do not start with an introduction or "good morning". - Ask someone else to introduce you. It lends itself to credibility. - Tell stories throughout the entire presentation - Know your material by heart - Leverage cues to jog your memory in case you get lost (e.g., an image to remind you of the story you are supposed to tell) - Practice out loud (I find this painful, but it really helps) - Pause frequently (3-5 seconds minimum, especially after you make a point) - Build in audience engagement (ice breakers, questions, simple exercises) - Take risks (it is only a risk to you, the audience won't even know) - Be vulnerable to fast track trust - Be confident. Even blindly confident if you have to. - Bring up a bottle of water and don't be afraid to take a sip. - If you freeze or get lost, just pause and collect yourself - Know your setup (hand mic vs. lapel mic, stage or classroom, etc.) - Know your audience and what they care about (e.g., execs vs. entry level) - Be yourself 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: - Do not memorize verbatim - Do not worry about your hand movements - Don't read from the slides - Don't worry if the slide doesn't match up perfectly with what you are saying - Do not say things like "I forgot what I was about to say" or "I'm nervous" or "I'm sorry" during your presentation - Don't assume the people organizing the event know what they are doing (often they are volunteers and if you ask questions or tell them what you need it is very helpful) - Don't stress yourself out. Even if you bomb, people have very short memories. - Don't compare yourself to some TED speaker. They are literally the best of the best. The bar is much lower than you think. (Think NFL vs. College vs. High School levels) --- Any other tips from the great presenters out there? #publicspeaking #business #leadership