I did an article years ago on the Ten Commandments of Public Speaking, and it’s time to update it. Here goes:
I. Thou shall know that a speech is for the audience, not the speaker.
II. Thou shall not dump information on the audience; thou shall rather seek to persuade.
III. Thou shall consider the (twenty-two minute) attention span of the audience and keep it holy.
IV. Thou shall not begin thy speech with a joke.
V. Thou shall remember that an invitation to speak is not a license to speak in a monotone.
VI. Thou shall not wander the stage aimlessly but rather plant thy feet.
VII. Thou shall not use more than one Power Point slide for every 3 minutes of talk.
VIII. Thou shall use no more than ten words in at least 24 point type on thy Power Point slides.
IX. Thou shall not end every declarative sentence as if it were a question, with a rising tone?
X. Thou shall not exceed thy allotted time.
XI. Thou shall arrive early enough to ensure that everything is working correctly and ready to go before the agreed upon start time.
All rules are there to be broken including this poor set. Why not start with a joke? Why not wander about rather than be rooted? Why use powerpoint at all?
Hi, Paul — thanks for your comments. Of course, ‘all rules are meant to be broken’ by people smart and tactful enough to break them in the right way. Why not start with a joke? Because most people are at their most nervous at the beginning of a talk, and as a result, they often blow the punch line. The result is the audience doesn’t laugh, the speaker panics, and a vicious circle starts. So only those who are highly expert and confident at delivering jokes should start with one.
Why not wander about rather than be rooted? Too many speakers get ‘happy feet’ and wander in ways that alienate the audience rather than connect with it. Audiences only care about motion toward or away from them, and so that kind of choreography, when used correctly, can be very effective.
Why use Power Point at all? If you’ve read my blog, you know that I often preach against using Power Point, but the reality is that many organizations demand it, so I also coach people in the correct use of Power Point.
Hi Nick,
Funny, I was just writing about breaking the rules when I saw this. Great insights and easy to keep in mind.
Hi Nick,
I din’t understand your third point
“Thou shall consider the (twenty-two minute) attention span of the audience and keep it holy.”
Can you please elaborate.
Thanks & Regards,
Rizvi
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Hi, Mustafain —
I just saw your comment from June 2011. Apologies for not responding sooner — or even in a timely way!
What I meant was that there is lots of research that suggests that attention spans are about 21-22 minutes. Some people argue that attention is getting shorter, but the best evidence we have is that it’s about 21-22 minutes. So speakers need to respect their audience’s need to have a break every 20 minutes or so. That’s what I meant.