Recently I’ve been working on trying to become a better public speaker, which is always a project in evolution. And I decided, that one of the better ways to improve would be to get explicit feedback, from some other excellent speakers. So I asked a couple friends, who I admire as speakers and colleagues, to watch a couple of my talks and give me some explicit feedback.
It turns out that they liked the idea, and we all spent a few hours watching each other talk at conferences and sending each other feedback. It’s a little daunting, knowing that a great speaker is sitting there, watching you, looking for every single mistake you make. Saying um. Stumbling. Examining your slides. Your pacing. Your narrative.
But it’s totally worth it. It’s a great way to get better, and to learn tricks from other pros. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Here’s a version of the form we used ( speaker feedback form – web), to help guide the discussion. It does require a little courage, but we will all become better speakers by going through this exercise. And become better friends in the process. Win-win.
Sara Gray 