ON PUBLIC SPEAKING AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

I decided to write this article, provoked by all the bullshit courses on public speaking I've seen circling the media, and a very stimulating talk I had with Spas Kerimov on the subject. (Spas is a great public speaker.) Keep in mind this opinion comes from someone who even teaches the thing!

If all of us followed the mantras chanted on most of the public speaking courses online, we would all be slowly moving bodies standing in extremely straight positions, NO rounded shoulders, please! We will wave our hands (but not excessively), and walk around the space from time to time. We would start with an "exciting" anecdote – not too shocking and definitely politically correct, and in the end - finish with an inspiring quote. Something in the style of "Together, we can do everything!"

Would you get excited by that kind of presentation or presence? I know I won't.?

This is not a call for slacking on body language, but a call for originality.

Look at the guy in the picture I've posted. If you're in IT, you'd know who that is. And that is what I mean by civil disobedience (not only my desire to show my respect for Thoreau.). This guy is chubby, sweaty, outrageous, scandalous. We still talk about this 'performance'! It is emblematic.

But let's be fair. He was the CEO of Microsoft. When you're the boss, you can pretty much afford to do such things and all the other crazy things that come to your mind. (To all the CEOs out there, you have no excuse for being dull)?But most people want to ramp up their presentation skills as someone who wants to make a good impression on their bosses and partners. If you scream DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, drowned in sweat, your bosses might not appreciate it. What can I say, life's unfair. But what would everyone always appreciates is effort and creativity.?

Now, where is the value that a course in public speaking can give you? Ideas. All the ideas that will come to you during the training. And a safe space for practice – if they are in person. They should put you infront of an audience, time you!, and give you feedback. DO NOT GET CAUGHT UP on the 'theory.' Hear it, acknowledge it, and find your own voice.

Here are my two cents: what you need to do is practice. Because this will put you comfortably in your body. That's why public speaking courses are identical to acting courses – not because you're pretending to be someone else, but because you are learning to play YOU infront of people. There is a certain level of theatrics, but the role is YOU. If a public speaking course gives you this space – take it! And dare. In the end, it is all about working with Mr Anxiety. Not to remove it - since that's impossible (and unnecessary) - but to alchemy it to excitement. If you're excited, the public will also feel the same way. The big fight is usually ANXIETY VS CONFIDENCE: cause confidence is the public face of competence. For how to turn anxiety into something else, ask an actor. (In the best universities in the world - the Public Speaking course is led by the same professor who teaches Acting.)

That was 1. Now 2. Make an effort for creativity. Even if your effort fails, people always appreciate it. And if it doesn't, great! You will see it works, and next time you'll be braver. You'll tell that seemingly unrelated story; you might open with it, and make it work! What do I mean by creativity – metaphor, a story with a good conflict,?a prompt, vulnerability, something personal. It is all about intertwining that story with your topic. Relating two things that are at first glance unrelatable. Oh, boy, oh boy, that's a formula of success.?

If you're talking about, let's say, building seawalls. Something so rough and masculine. Start with "THINK BACK TO being a kid at the beach, building walls around your sandcastles. If you engineered those fortifications properly, the tide would come in and flow around your kingdom, before the walls eventually eroded away. By redirecting the rising water, you would have saved your castle—at least for a little while." (Bring sand if you must.) Then connect it to seawalls building: "Now think bigger. Imagine you're a city planner in an area threatened by rising seas and you've spent a fortune to build a proper seawall... etc etc" (There was actually an article on the subject, which reminds me - read interesting articles and incorporate great authors' creativity into your own).

We love stories WITH CONFLICT. We love comparisons of two seemingly unrelated things. We love to laugh. We hate fake. We hate to see arrogance (so, dont confuse it with confidence).?

Don't be afraid to be creative. Companies and institutions will try to (unconsciously) shove your creativity, soothe it, and kill it. Do not let them; they don't know they're doing it. Educate them. Take it one step at a time, and you'll see your bravery rewarded. Always spot the place in your presentation where it is on a certain level – even mildly - civically disobedient. This is your creativity. You'll recognize it by asking yourself the question: is this 100% appropriate? Is this safe?

?Creativity is not safe.