You’re probably familiar with the so-called 10,000-hour rule, the idea that what it takes – and all it takes – to master something, like golf or public speaking is to spend 10,000 hours practicing. And you probably know that Malcolm Gladwell, expert storyteller, popularized the figure in his book Outliers, based on some student violinists’ practice time, Bill Gates’ programming, and the Beatles famous two-year stint getting good in Hamburg.
Moreover, you may have followed the ongoing story as the original researcher, K. Anders Ericsson, who talks about not just 10,000 hours of mindless practice, but deliberate practice, which includes all kinds of sophisticated focus on trouble spots, repetition where it counts, and a whole lot more than just time on task, rebutted the oversimplification that Malcolm Gladwell made so memorable.
OK, if you’re up to date on practice hours, then it may surprise you to learn that research from a decade ago, a meta-research paper covering more than 88 studies and over 11,000 subjects found that on average across games, music, sports, education, and the professions practice only accounted for a 12 percent in the level of expertise attained. In other words, practice helps, but not that much. And the real shocker is that in the professions studied the difference was only 1 percent. At that rate, you might as well not practice at all. Just get out there and do it!
Now here’s the crucial question for public speakers: is speaking more like music (21 %) or a profession (1%)?
I’m going to posit that public speaking is more like music, and reps count. That, at least, is the overwhelming sense I get from years of talking to speakers, the professionals around speaking, and speaking myself. So you need to practice. Practice while walking your dog, rehearse when you have a speech to give, practice in front of the mirror, as long as you don’t mind being self-conscious and reversed from left to right, practice your body language, practice your content, practice your Nobel Prize acceptance speech – all of it gets better with practice. My general sense is that musicians practice a lot more than most public speakers, so take a page from their book and get started putting the reps in. Many of us public speakers do our practice in front of an audience because it seems to us that’s all that counts, but that’s a mistake. For me, the bare minimum before you get in front of an audience is three rehearsals, as follows:
The first rehearsal is for the content. The first time, just try to get the words out. Don’t worry about what actors call ‘blocking’ — how you might move around. Just get the words out. Find out if anything needs to be changed or fixed. See how long it takes, and how well the transitions work. Test it.
The second rehearsal is for the non-verbal ‘conversation’. The second time, with the text stable, work on finding out how you’re going to stand, to move, and where during the speech you need to do what. Don’t worry so much about getting the words perfect, but do feel the speech, as a dynamic production of your body. Ideally, you’ll have someone video you, so you can see how you’re doing.
The third rehearsal is for the emotional journey. Don’t neglect this one! A good speech takes its audience on an emotional as well as an intellectual journey. So, on this rehearsal, go over the top finding places to express all the emotions of the speech. You should map them out in your mind just as you map out the movement. Where do you start? Where do you finish? How do you get from one to the other? Go crazy, because when you give the actual speech, you’ll retain some of the life of this rehearsal. Most people are too bland, emotionally speaking, because they’re afraid of showing their emotions when they speak. Unfortunately, that just makes them boring.
It took me a long time to begin to get comfortable with expressing emotions in speaking, especially in the form of stories where I was risking something personal to share with an audience. Now I’m old enough and over myself enough to realize that sharing – connecting with other humans – is all that really matters. And telling stories is the way to do that because stories allow the audience to remember what has been said. So, start practicing, start sharing, and start telling stories. If it takes you 10,000 hours or more – or less – it’s the journey you are on that counts.
Great post, Nick. In addition to the research you cite, Howard Gardner postulated that it took a decade or more to master a domain. Whatever the number, it takes a long time. Being conscious about what you’re doing is important, too. For public speakers, videoing presentations and working with a coach to get feedback is almost mandatory if you want to be good. One more thing: You have to stay current, or your skills start to erode.
I concur strongly, Wally, and I’m especially glad you made that last point about staying current. The pace of change accelerates now every day, it seems, making keeping up more challenging and more important than ever.