ISO Examples of Effective Public Speaking.

July 21, 2010 3:14 AM

Would you share videos of any presentation in front of a live audience, whose speaker's presentation style you found extremely effective (or affective)?

A memorable TED talk, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, a video from a college seminar. I am looking for examples of excellent public speaking. The content of the presentation doesn't matter, whether it's technical or for a general audience.

What about the presentation made it effective? And what details of the speaker's presentation style impressed you?

(Anecdotes lacking a supporting video are welcome as well.)

posted by Tufa to Education (3 answers total)

Best answer: I'm a big fan of Larry Lessig's method (which is apparently similar to the Takahashi Method). Essentially, it is very, very brief slides (usually pictures, simple diagrams, or just one or two words) where you say only a few words per slide. I'm having a hard time explaining it, so check out the wiki above or better, Lessig's TED talk on how creativity is being strangled by the law.

I really, really like this method because I find it super engaging. I learned to keep slides simple and short (5x5 - no more than five bullets with five words each) and have found that to be excellent advice. I feel this takes it to the extreme and in the hands of a talented speaker, like Lessig, it works fantastically.
posted by alaijmw at 4:30 AM on July 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Here is a great presentation on how to give presentations. It's for graduate students but it really is for anyone who is trying to not to bore their audience to death.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:08 AM on July 21, 2010

Best answer: A classic presentation on Identity 2.0 which I originally found on an earlier AskMefi thread on Apple Keynote.
posted by jeremias at 5:51 AM on July 21, 2010