How to Speak - MITOCW

Started writing on: 2020-07-25 | Last modified: 2020-07-26 | Finished: N/A

-source :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY

-info :: How to Speak by Patrick Winston

Literal Notes

1 hr video about speaking professionaly

Anecdote : Story about going battle without weapon

Success determined by the ability

• Quality -> Knowledge, practice, inherent talent Decreasing order

Anecdote : mary lou gymnast

Starting a talk

• No jokes, instead use promises to deliver by end of the talk.
• Cycle around the ideas (Thrice atleast)
• Build fence (Differentiate between already existing work)
• Give numeric stats and agenda about the talk
• Ask a question to get people back from fogging out

Time Place

• 11 AM best time in an academic setting, everyone is awake and no chances of sleeping
• Well lit places to enable max concentration, dim light places can force people to sleep.
• Cased, speaker should ideally visit the place and get familizarized before
• Populated (Not sure why?)

Board

• Gives a graphical advantage ; easier to connect and communicate
• Speed is easier to comprehend (compared to slides)
• Helps link with mirror neurons allegedly, gives a feeling of being connected to the mechanism

Props

• Anecdote : Play with a stove showing the state of the play.
• Helps understanding stuff with a better perspective
• Example : Cycle tire, mechanics, right hand rule, duct to reduce problem size

Slides

• Never too many words
• Stay near the slides
• Images should be simple
• Simple plain background
• Avoid logos and title (I guess that could sometimes not be an option, maybe stick to things on Title Page)
• People tend to focus on the slide
• Print on paper to check and verify if it is good
• Avoid laser pointer and use pointers in the slide itself
• Hapax Legomenon ¹ A central idea for the entire presentation

Meta

• Example : Map coloring algorithm without and with optimazation (Similar to the promise point)
• Oral Exams : Bring friends and tell them to make you cry
• Job Talks : Have a Problem and Approach to solve ; should be able to explain to some one in ~5 minutes
• Become Famous
  • You can never get used to becoming ignored
  • Need lot of ‘S’ words:
    • Symbol
    • Slogan
    • Salient
    • Surprise
    • Story

End

• Mention collaboraters in the beginning
• Never end with FAQ/Questions
• No Thank You and The End
• Maybe end with a joke, gives them a feeling that they had fun during the talk
• Shake hands with the conference org ¯\_(ツ)_/¯