talking the talk, and walking too fast

[sergebroom]

I had offered giving a talk about steampunk movies at the local SF club's November meeting. This is the talk I gave at WesterCon on July 4th, but not exactly the same. Tonight, I finally completed my revisions. I then did a rehearsal by myself, talking while running thru my slide show. 'Running' may be the key word. Even though I have slightly expanded the text, and even though I added many pictures, the whole thing clocks in at 33 minutes. That's almost 10 minutes shorter. I think I need to rehearse this a couple more times because I sure stumbled. And I should switch to decaf.

Too late for rehearsals tonight. Also, since my plans for Friday evening involve setting up our Christmas Tree, followed by some much needed relaxation, I'll work on the talk over the weekend.

I can't wait for Friday 13th.

Comments

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Excellent idea. I always used to use bullet points. I think it helps you connect with the audience more, because a: you're not constantly looking down at your script and b: you can go off at a tangent and come right back to where you want to be.

Just my opinion of course, but I'd say the very fact that you're taking the time to plan and practise your presentation means you're already one-up on the majority of presenters. I saw one of the 95% who 'just wing it' make a presentation the other week. It was not pretty :)

A word of caution though. Don't believe that old wives' tale about picturing the audience naked giving you confidence. The first (and only) time I tried it, my old gran came to heckle... er, cheer me on :(

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, if the granny turned out to be Ellen Burstyn...