How to Speak

1Preface: A Letter from the Author

1. Tips and Tidbits to start your own Journey
2. Applying the secret sauce to everything!
3. TL; DRs and No Dumb Questions
4. Something you think I’ve missed?
5. Good luck and Enjoy!
6. ISetting the Stage

2Chapter 1: Honest Lying for a Living

1. The Dirt on Public Speaking
2. You are “The One and Only”
3. An “Odd” and “Strange” Craft and Practice
4. From “Why am I doing this?” to “Keeping Sane” and even “Enjoying it”
5. It’s how I Practice
6. “Engage…”
7. TL; DRs
8. (There are) No Dumb Questions

3I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…

1. Never sit at the front
2. You have to be able to speak, so Speak
3. The Worst Crime?
4. The Good News
5. TL; DRs
6. (There are) No Dumb Questions

4“I’m going to die!”

1. Messing with a Chimp’s Mind
2. Dealing with your Inner Chimp
3. TL; DRs
4. (There are) No Dumb Questions
5. IIPreparing your Story

5It all lives or dies in preparation

1. What do they care about?
2. How to kill an audience, with boredom
3. Getting to know the audience before you meet them
4. Adjust, refine and keep
5. TL; DRs
6. (There are) No Dumb Questions

6Introducing your Enemy: The Brain’s Crap Filter

1. A Crap Filter?
2. “Am I going to procreate?”
3. Worse… it’s the Brain that learns
4. Breaking into the audience’s brain, legally
5. TL; DRs

7Tell me a Story

1. Your talk is a Journey
2. You won’t know your talk’s story at the beginning
3. A Talk’s Story is its Framework
4. TL; DRs
5. (There are) No Dumb Questions

8Exercise: Practice being a Meta-Watcher

9Starting to cook up a talk

1. But I don’t think I have anything to say…
2. How to start collecting ingredients
3. Get it all down
4. Mixing it up
5. It’s not about you…
6. Say less, and kick the ego out
7. Simmer and Reduce to Taste: Less really is more
8. Create your TL;DRs first
9. TL; DRs
10. (There are) No Dumb Questions

10Exercise: Write your Future Review

11Dreaming up an Early & Winning Title & Synopsis

1. One talk proposal, three audiences
2. Tempting, Vague and… Controversial
3. Tempt Me!
4. You don’t want to miss this!
5. With a Title and Synopsis comes Feedback
6. The Ossifying Effect of a Talk’s Acceptance
7. TL; DRs
8. (There are) No Dumb Questions

12Building your first narrative

1. “The first draft of anything is shit” - Ernest Hemingway
2. Playing + Working = Plorking
3. Why don’t you… Go Out And Do Something Less Boring Instead?¹⁷
4. It’s only for you
5. How do I know I’m finished?
6. TL; DRs
7. (There are) No Dumb Questions

13Making it Powerful, Memorable… Effective

1. The Stodge
2. Key Stodge Ingredient: The Title
3. Secondary, Tertiary and Miscellaneous Stodge: Titles with Pause
4. Adding Seasoning
5. The Special Case of the Spice of Humour
6. Building your Spice Cupboard
7. Read Wildly!
8. It’s not just about reading…
9. TL; DRs
10. (There are) No Dumb Questions

14Bouncing Narrative Arcs

1. Don’t let your talk be like tinnitus
2. Arcs are not optional
3. “Oh crap!” to “I rule!”
4. “Oh crap!” is an opportunity
5. Close your arc with “I rule!”
6. Close with a hint of “crap”
7. Rinse and Reinforce (not Repeat)
8. The importance of …. (silence)
9. TL; DRs
10. (There are) No Dumb Questions
11. The Power and Danger of Garden Paths
12. You’re Wrong! Oh crap, to OH CRAP!
13. Use garden paths with care, or not at all
14. Losing trust
15. TL; DRs
16. (There are) No Dumb Questions

15Applying the Meme Amplifier

1. Engineering a meme
2. Catchy enough?
3. Short enough?
4. Turning it up to ‘11’?
5. TL; DRs

16Rehearsal to Refine, Reduce, and Dodge Boredom

1. My Mechanics of Rehearsal to Refine
2. Rehearsal as the Great Reducer
3. There’s a Right Amount of Rehearsal for You
4. I need rehearsal
5. The Parable of the Obviously Bored Speaker
6. Rehearsal is a dance with your own Crap Filter
7. Working with your own Boredom Curve
8. Keep your Boredom to Yourself
9. Find your own Boredom Curve
10. TL; DRs

17Exercise: Build your own Rehearsal Chart

18We need to talk about Slides

1. Bad slides can be the Crap Filter’s Friend
2. Slides must complement the talk
3. When slides work
4. Make your slides emphasise
5. Minimise slides
6. Watching Comedians
7. But I need slides!
8. TL; DRs
9. (There are) No Dumb Questions

19Compete for your Audience

1. Start attracting your audience immediately
2. You market your talk
3. Don’t ask for my slides early, please

20Exercise: Build a Talk Promotion Plan

21Questions anyone?

1. Avoid the Rhetorical
2. Prepare for Questions!
3. Keep your ear to the ground

22It’s your Style

1. You’d never know I am an introvert
2. I consider my clothes. No, really, I do!
3. Where’s your guitar?
4. Your Style, Your Audience’s Expectations

23Exercise: Plan some Style Experiments

1. IIIPerformance: How was it for them?

24Nerves and the Night Before your Talk

1. Evil Temptations
2. Develop your routine for the “Night Before”
3. Rehearse once and early
4. I eat a regular meal
5. Do some (any) exercise
6. Lastly, meditate
7. How I sleep the night before
8. The morning after the night before
9. Moments before you take the stage
10. TL; DRs
11. (There are) No Dumb Questions

25Exercise: Develop and Evolve your NBR and PPR

1. Pre-Performance Routine (Sample)
2. Night Before Routine (Sample)
3. Adjust and Evolve