Ten Tips to Give Better Talks

My first real public speaking gig was in Grade 6. Despite being a shy kid who preferred looking at his shoes to making eye contact, my speech somehow cracked the top 3 in class. This happened again in grades 8 and 10, so maybe my nascent extroversion just needed a little encouragement.

Good thing, because as a professor, I make my living giving talks. Yet anyone who's set foot in a university auditorium knows that many of us are dreadful at it. So are students. It's baffling: every university has writing centers and pedagogy workshops, but I've never seen a public speaking center. We just throw people on stage and hope for the best.

That's a shame, because this skill matters. Consider this a correction for that omission.

Fear of public speaking ranks higher than fear of death for most people, which explains why so many academics would rather hide in their labs than present their work. I know tenured professors who still break into sweats before giving talks. If you’re afraid of public sp…