At several of the events i’ve spoken at over the years, people came up to me afterwards to tell me that my speech was their favorite of the lot, even though it’s typically the case that I put in less effort into preparation than the other speakers, had janky or non-existent slides, etc.
Here’s how i think about it.
Especially now in the age of youtube and podcasts etc, there isn’t much point reciting a prepared lecture. you could always just record that separately and share links with people. That’s better for them in multiple ways; they can pause, rewind, take notes. The most precious thing about an in-person event is *presence*. it’s *vibe*. it’s *the moment*. Why are we here now?
So what I do is, I look for an open question that I’m currently working my way through, that I have some idea about, but haven’t actually made my mind up about yet. then I do a freestyle exploriation that question in real time. the audience is engaged because neither of us know what i’m gonna say next!! (actually this is also how I do my tweets)
And in both cases, what’s really precious is if you can harness some of the vibe of the audience- if you ask a question or ponder something out loud and you feel for where the room is at, maybe get a response from someone, or maybe elicit a laugh, and then build on that.
One of Miles Davis’s band members said something like, “we were like scientists experimenting live on-stage every night trying to do semi-controlled explosions” and I vibe with that a lot. there has to be some unpredictability, some uncertainty, some ‘danger’, that makes it fun
Also i always make it a point to try and catch as many of the earlier talks by other people at the event, so that i can make as many references as possible to their stuff. it’s ALWAYS a hit with the audience. It requires actually listening, but the payoff is so large. I suppose in this way I typically put in more effort into preparing for the experience-in-the-moment than other speakers tend to do, but it doesn’t ee
Basically: unless you’re giving a super-technical talk, focus on audience experience over fussing about getting all the details right. try to convey real emotions like frustration and relief and anger and excitement etc. If you can get them to care, they can look up the details later.
Here are a couple of talks I’ve given in this spirit: