public speaking and singing - uh oh

Great "new" rules for public speaking from Jonathan Li at FastCompany.

The one that scares me is speaking like you're singing...oh no. I love to sing but I  am (apparently) totally tone deaf -  I think I sound great when I sing. ... NOONE else does; in fact, I have friends who have taken long car rides from me who have never recovered from it (correlation being I sing in the car - who doesn't?).

The adage that practice does not make perfect on its own is something that rubs me the wrong way, though. I truly feel practicing in any way, shape or form is important but I can see how practicing without feedback is not as constructive as having feedback. However, I still will say that practicing in any way is better than going in cold without any run throughs. Try your best to have someone listen to your speaking and give you (hopefully) constructive feedback but if you have no one, please just practice anyway.

I like the idea of more conversation based presentations than lectures. As I always tell my students, sure, I can stand up in front of them and talk for 60-90 minutes (or more) but it is so much better when they interact with me because then we really can cover more topics, be more interesting and at the end of the class, I still have my voice :).

Ending strong is so important -make sure the beginning will get the attention of your audience and that at the end you review the action steps and have a great closing to be remembered. Pretending to be chatting with friends is helpful and yes, always test your jokes. Be careful with humor. What you find funny can be offensive to someone else. You want to be funny but not too funny because it is a fine line between humor and potential embarrassment... Just my opinion.

What do you think about the "new" public speaking rules? How do you think conversational presentations will be handled? If you have never taught before, how do you get ready to step in front of a classroom of people and share ideas and knowledge? Is that something you want to know more about? Let me know in the comments what you think or else I might load up a video of me singing one day ... (cue the screams of all who know and love me but hate my singing...) Happy Hunting!

FastCompany 8 Tips From the New Public Speaking Playbook