How could the speaker find hundreds of things?
Answers
Answer:
I've always been fascinated by the idea of getting up in front of hundreds of strangers and being expected to present your ideas to them. It's simultaneously enticing and terrifying, and that's probably what draws me to it.
In October of this year (2016), I attended the DevIntersection/AngleBrackets conference in Las Vegas, as I did twice last year. Once again, as I am fascinated with the process involved in speaking for tech conferences, I tracked down as many speakers as would talk to me and asked them three simple questions:
Who are you, and what do you do?
What is the most important thing for a speaker to remember while they are on stage?
What was your first conference-level presentation about, and how did it go?
The answers to the third question will be their own separate blog post, so for now I want to focus on the answers the speakers gave to the second question. What should a speaker remember while they are on stage? Let's find out!
The Basics
First off, let's review the basic things a speaker should remember while they are on stage:
John Papa: "Their name."
Dan Wahlin: "To turn the mic off before they go to the restroom."
Phil Japikse: "To zip their fly. [It's] really key."
Julie Lerman: "I forgot."
Remember these things, and you're already well on your way to delivering a spectacular presentation.
OK, let's be serious for a bit. In any presentation, there are two incontrovertible pieces: the speaker, and the audience. Each of the presenters I talked to mentioned one or other, in some form, as the most important thing to remember when on stage.
The Speaker
This is who everyone in the audience is here to see. Some people show up at a presentation for the content, and some show up because they know who's talking about it. A speaker's job is to convey his ideas and content thoughtfully and clearly. But what about the speaker's job is important, and how can they effectively communicate their point to tens or hundreds or even thousands of people at a time?
Body Language
A human's body language can tell you a great deal about them without the need for words. One presenter said he can improve the audience's ability to remember his key points by focusing on what his body language silently tells his audience:
Tim Huckaby (CEO of InterKnowlogy, software guy): "For me, it's body language, eye contact, and speaking TO the audience as opposed to AT them. That means moving around, wandering the stage, making sure you get eye contact as best you can. That keeps people engaged. The average human only digests about one-eighth of what you're talking about in an hour-long session. To improve that percentage, you move around, you're physical, and you're making eye contact [or] at least appearing to make eye contact with the audience.