paulmck

This is part of the Kernel Recipes 2025 blog series.

In what Way Should I Improve My Public Speaking?

Suppose that you have decided to improve your public speaking. The good news is that incremental improvements can be very valuable, because they help you handle more difficult public-speaking situations. For a few examples:

1. It is usually more difficult to give a formal presentation than it is to cover the same material in a one-on-one informal meeting.  A formal presentation requires that the information be structured in a linear fashion that the audience can (more) easily process.
2. It is usually more difficult to present to larger audiences.  With maybe 5-10 people, the speaker can track each audience member’s facial expressions and thus emotional state.  With maybe 50 people, the speaker can make occasional eye contact with each audience member.  Larger audiences require greater crowd-control skills.
3. It is easier for Paul to speak in person (with immediate feedback from the audience) than pre-recorded video, where the audience is somewhere and somewhen else.  One workaround is to pre-record with a live audience, which is becoming increasingly common at conferences.  On the other hand, others prefer doing pre-recorded videos in order to avoid stage-fright issues.
4. It is more difficult to present to technical people with differing skills, experiences, and viewpoints because it is harder to understand what such people know and what facts and techniques they are likely to resonate with.
5. It is more difficult communicating with non-technical people.  For a techie, presenting to other techies is easiest.  It is more difficult to present to other functions in the same group, who don’t understand technical details, but at least share the same goal (for example, getting a product out).  It is still more difficult to present to non-technical people who do not share the speaker’s goals, or, worse yet, who might even be adamantly opposed to those goals.  And presenting to technical people who are adamantly opposed to your particular technical approach is also no picnic.
6. Language and cultural differences pose additional challenges. It is easiest to present in one’s native tongue to a group of native speakers from your own culture.  Beyond a certain point, interpreters might be needed, which adds odd time delays along with the possibility of mistranslation.

Again, the good news is that incremental improvements along any of these axes is helpful.

But How to Improve?

And, as with everything else, practice makes perfect.  Giving a dry run in front of a friendly audience is a good way to prepare for a public talk, as is rehearsing in front of a mirror or a video camera.

Organizations such as Toastmasters can also be very helpful with guided practice, ranging up to and including speech contests.  There are Toastmasters groups in many cities, including more than 20 of them within 40 kilometers of Paris.  (Full disclosure: I learned much during my seven years with a Toastmasters club in the 1990s.)

Formal classes can also be helpful, as can personal coaching.