# Sol Orwell - 62 Tips on Crushing Public Speaking (Highlights)
## Metadata
**Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/10679275)
**Source**:: #from/readwise #from/hypothesis
**Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting
**Status**:: #x
**Authors**:: [[Sol Orwell]]
**Full Title**:: 62 Tips on Crushing Public Speaking
**Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles
**Category Icon**:: 📰
**URL**:: [www.sjo.com](https://www.sjo.com/crushing-public-speaking/)
**Host**:: [[www.sjo.com]]
**Highlighted**:: [[2021-08-29]]
**Created**:: [[2023-12-02]]
## Highlights
### Keep your goals secret
- Although I set a few goals for myself ever year, I never post them publicly – studies have shown that talking about your intentions (and then subsequently receiving positive feedback) results in your mind being “tricked” into thinking it has already accomplished your goal. ^220297243
#favorite
### Precise practice makes perfect
- If you want to improve as a public speaker, then embrace every opportunity to participate and progress. ^220297245
### Getting better is not fun
- Record your videos so you can look over them to figure out how you can improve. ^220297247
### Don’t trust yourself; trust experts
- Hire a coach. They can pinpoint mistakes you make and help you become 10x better 10x faster. ^220297249
### Five key components of public speaking
- The areas I am going to cover are: Content, Slides, Before, During, After ^220297251
#### Content for your talk? That should be the easy part!
- Relative to the people attending, you should be an expert. ^220297253
- I start by filling in the blank: “Because of my presentation, you will understand ____________.” ^220297254
- You will then have major points that lead to the above understanding. Each of these major points will either solve a pain or give you pleasure. ^220297255
- Each major point has a resulting hook. Each of these hooks breaks down something intrinsic to what people care about. ^220297256
- The “hook” is just rephrasing your major points so it piques people’s curiosity, usually to answer a what, how, or why. ^220297257
- Each major point will take 5-10 minutes to cover. It should thus have sub-points that will take roughly 1-2 minutes to break down. ^220297258
- As the expert, you don’t need to memorize; you should be able to ad-lib. Your outline just ensures you stay on point. ^220297259
- The content is just an outline of the overarching topic, the major points under it, and the hooks under each major point. ^220297260
#### Slides: bringing the POW
- Your slides are a visual aid to what you are saying. They are not meant to be the focus. ^220297262
- you make your point, the slides make that point pop, and you move on. ^220297263
- So if you spend more than 60s on a slide, you’re slowing everyone down. ^220297264
- Slides should match your words (to reinforce) ^220297265
- Close each ‘section’ with a loop back/conclusion ^220297266
#### Before the Talk
- I would memorize the first five lines I was going to say. This would get me in the flow and then I’d ad-lib the entire talk. ^220297268
#### Talk Time
- I’m speaking because the people listening do not know as much as me. ^220297270
- Make it about them (use “you”), not about yourself (“I”) ^220297271
- Say numbers with your fingers ^220297272
- Use your hands to show how big/small something is ^220297273
#### After your talk