Q&A from webcast on public speaking

We had about 500 people in the webcast today about the new book, Confessions of a Public Speaker – as promised here are all of the questions asked in the chat room during the talk, with answers and some snarky commentary.

Slides from the talk here (3MB PDF). Actual webcast here (youtube).

Here are all the questions I pulled from the chat room transcript.

Q: When you started out, did you enjoy speaking in public?

A: Definitely No. Don’t know many who would say yes. I did it because I had ideas, and worked as a leader on projects, and speaking was essential to helping those ideas and projects survive. I started to enjoy it only once I realized how much I sucked at it – then I worked to get better at it, and learned how little it took to do better than most people, and to find the challenge of it interesting. As I said in the webcast, and the book, the bar is quite low. Most people are really bad at doing this. Putting effort in shows easily.

Q: (Mary Treseler) what is your next book about?

A: That’s easy, how not to answer questions from your editor while doing a webcast :)

Q: Do you think there are big differences between face to face public speaking and online public speaking (like today’s)?

A: The core things of rhythm, being interesting, and practice are the same.

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9 thoughts on “Q&A from webcast on public speaking”

  • Marianne Lenox - December 2, 2009 at 3:25 pm #

  • Scott, do you have any recommendations for technology training such as teaching Word or how to use a CMS?

  • Reply ↓
  • Jason Kunesh - December 2, 2009 at 3:26 pm #

  • Hi Scott-

    I wanted to thank you for the presentation today. Good content, great delivery. More than anything else, it was your performance while keeping current with the chat window content streaming by that convinced me to pick up a copy of your book.

    Thanks again!

  • Reply ↓
  • mpg - December 3, 2009 at 9:26 am #

  • > When you asked your spouse to marry you, did you
    > need flyouts and animations? No.

    Amen, brother!

  • Reply ↓
  • Scott Berkun - December 5, 2009 at 10:18 am #

  • Hi Marianne:

    Sorry, that’s not my cup of tea. Or cup of anything really.

  • Reply ↓
  • Vijay - January 20, 2010 at 12:32 pm #

  • Scott,
    Thank you for a great presentation. I noticed that your energy was explosive and there was absolutely no point in the presentation where I could detect a lull. I am interested in learning if you have any secrets or techniques in maintaining the focus of not just the audience, but also yourself as I often space out even when I am working on something that I am passionate about.

  • Reply ↓
Scott's Bestselling Books
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  • Provocative and funny secrets from a veteran speaker, you'll laugh as you learn.
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  • Making Things Happen
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