1 Easy Way I Accidentally Became a Better Conference Speaker

One of the biggest challenges of presenting is being able to succinctly and clearly summarize a lot of information in a short amount of time.

After being a part of panel presentation at the 2015 Streaming Media West conference (an excellent conference on video and audio on the web), I recognized a very simple but useful tool in honing this ability. It may even be obvious, but I wish I realized it sooner. As we progressed through the conference, I interacted with a lot of different people: from vendors to people who were part of the conference to people who knew nothing about the topic. Each time, the conversation would start the same way — We would take turns explaining what we do.

Key Realization 1: The more times I explained what I “do,” the better I got at explaining it to people of all knowledge levels and backgrounds.

This sounds contradictory, but: The more you know about a topic, the more difficult it may be to explain it.

After doing a particular career, hobby or task for a while, gaining expertise over the course of years, it’s easy to subconsciously assume there is a certain level of understanding in the audience of your presentations and conversations. That is, it’s easy overlook details that are obvious or implied to yourself but not to your audience. The more simply something can be explained, the better. Aiming to explain everything very basically in your conversations and presentations audience not only helps everyone in your audience, but it helps you (as the presenter) to think about complex topics in more simple ways.

As a result, Key Realization 2: Talk to as many people as you can before your presentation who are both knowledgable in your expertise and those who have little to no knowledge.

• People knowledgable in the area will help you clarify your technical points as well as ask questions that people in your audience might be interested in.
• People with little to no knowledge of your expertise will help you speak more simply and force you to explain things you might overlook.

In short, talking and networking with as many people as you can before giving a presentation can be a really useful exercise. It will help you improve your ability to convey information and gear your presentation to your audience.