How to Speak

For more on the life and work of Professor Winston (1943-2019), visit www.memoriesofpatrickwinston.com/

"Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order."

We are lucky that we live in an age where we can watch/listen to something like this for free

I am 27 and this is the first time I spoke thanks to this gentleman

they guy sounded like he could collapse at any moment and still delivered his speech in an intriguing way. what a master.

A summary of the whole talk. Save, read, use... Enjoy! Someone should've done it, let me be your hero guys. I spent couple of hours doing it but believe it'll be usefull for many people out there! Start 1. Do not start a talk with a joke. 2. Promise - Tell them what they gonna learn at the end of your talk. 3. Cycle – make your idea repeated many times in order to be completely clear for everyone. 4. Make a “Fence” around your idea so that it can be distinguished from someone else’s idea. 5. Verbal punctuation – sum up information within your talk some times to make listeners get back on. 6. Ask a question - intriguing one Place and Time 7. Best time for having a lecture is 11 am. (not too early and not after lunch) 8. The place should be well lit. 9. The place should be seen and checked before the lecture. 10. The place should not be full less than a half, it must be chosen according to the amount of listeners. Tools For teaching. 1. Board – it’s got graphics, speed, target. Watch your hands! Don’t hold them behind your back, it’s better to keep them straight and use for pointing at the board. 2. Props – use them in order to make your ideas visual. Visual perception is the most effective way to interact with listeners. For Job Talk. Exposing, Slides 3. Don’t put too many words on a slide. Slides should just reflect what you’re saying, not the other way around. Pictures attracts attention and people start to wait for your explanation – use that tip. 4. Make slide as easy as you can – no title, no distracting pictures, frames, points and so on. 5. Do not use laser pointer – due to that you lose eye contact with the audience. Instead you can make the arrows just upon a slide. Informing Show to your listeners your stuff is cool and interesting. You have to be able to: -show your vision of that problem -show that you’ve done particular things (by steps) All of that should be done real quick in no more than 5 min. Persuade your listeners you’re not a rookie (Prof. Winston contrived to do that from the very first seconds of his talk) Getting Famous If you want to your ideas be remembered you’ve got to have "5 S" - Symbols associate with your ideas (visual perception is the best way to attract attention) - Slogan (describing your idea) - Surprise (common fallacy that is no longer true, for instance, just after you’ve told about it) - Salient Idea (not necessarily important but the one that sticks out) - Story (how you did it, how it works…) How to End - Don’t put collaborators at the end, do that at the beginning. - Question’s the worst way to end a talk. - It’s good to end with a Contribution slide – to sum up everything you’ve told with your OWN decision. - At the very end you could tell a joke since people then will leave the event feeling fun and thus keep a good memory of your talk. - "Thank you (for listening)" isn’t good ending, it’s trite at least. You can end with a quote of a prominent person (my own knowledge), with a salute to people (how much you valued the time being here, the people over here..., “I’d like to get back, it was fun!” That part actually I find the hardest one, since saying “Thanks” is a kind of a habit and it’s really difficult to make people clap if your talk wasn’t fascinating, so you’d better do this great and you won’t have to worry about how to end!

"I always finish with a joke, and that way people think they've had fun the whole time!"

What's amazing about this lecture is that you can see Professor Winston implementing his own principles in real time. What an absolute masterpiece of a lecture.

The use of the techniques he’s teaching while he’s teaching them in a thoughtful manner was amazing. Asking a question about what another good way for an audience to re-engage is (the answer to which was asking a question) was next level brilliant!

Mark fans, this guy passed away in 2019, please be respectful to him in comments among the jokes from the stream.

title: "How to speak" the guy in the video: *starts speaking* me: damn, he's good

How to start a talk. 4:15 1. Never start with a joke, it always falls flat. 2. Start with an empowerment statement, i.e. what will the audience achieve after the talk. 3. Humans have only one language processor, so make sure they focus on what you're saying. ------------------------------------------ 4 Sample Heuristics 5:38 1. Cycle on the topic. Repeat what are talking about to reinforce it 2. Build a fence around your ideas, so audiences don't confuse them with the ideas from others. Tell them how your idea is different from others. 3. Use verbal punctuation to help audiences re-focus. State what you have covered so far and what is there to come. 4. Ask questions. Engage the audience with moderately difficult questions every now and then. But not very difficult ones. ------------------------------------------ The Tools Time & place 10:17 1. Choose an appropriate time for talks. 11 am is a good time for the 1st lecture of the day. 2. The place should be well lit. 3. Know the place before hand, it should be cased so that you can address challenges if any. 4. Make sure it's reasonably populated. Boards. Props, & Slides 13:24 1. Chalks and boards are good for informing and teaching. 2. Boards are well paced medium, people can absorb content while you write or draw graphics. 6. Using Boards and props helps in empathetic mirroring i.e. audiences think they are doing the writing and drawing 3. You can used hands to draw attention. 4. Slides are good for exposing. 6. Don't use laser pointers as they reduce the speakers' chance to engage with audiences, use a sign-post instead. 7. Slides should have minimum amount of words. You do the talking and explanation of the points. 8. Font size should be large enough for easy reading. 5. Props are useful to help audiences visualize things. 9. Practice your talk with people who don't know your work so that they don't hallucinate whats not in the presentation. ------------------------------------------ Informing, Inspire 36:30 1. Show your passion towards the subject 2. Promise a solution to a problem 3. Inspire by igniting passion 3. Teach people how to think by: - Providing stories that they need to know - Providing questions that they need to ask about these stories - Providing mechanism to analyse these stories - Providing ways to put together stories - Providing ways to evaluate reliability of the stories ------------------------------------------ Persuade 41:30 1. Job Talks: Vision - Tell them about a problem they'd be interested in and provide your approach to the solution. Achievement - Provide the steps you will take to solve the problem 2. Getting Famous: Why? - Because you want your work to be recognized. How? - Brand your work, have a slogan, have a salient idea and have a story to tell. ------------------------------------------ How to End a Talk 50:06 1. The last slide - It should enumerate what the audience have learnt or achieved after this talk, give them the time to read. 2. Final words: - Never thank the audience. - End with a call to action. - Alright, you can tell a joke now, people will think they've had fun all the while. 50:36

Once upon a time, I stayed up late at the MIT lab. On 6am , I saw professor Winston came to the lab and start drawing on the board. I asked professor "Hi Prof Winston, why are you here so early?"  However, he ignored me, and keep drawing on the board... After an hour, he called my name. "Hey Ernie, what's up?" I looked at him and asked "Hi Prof, is this the drawing for the course later on this morning? Why did you practice the subject if you taught it so many times?" He looked at me and smiled "I'm like an athlete, got to rehearse and improve my performance before every game! I've done it for many decades, and this is my commitment for students! " At that moment, I have no word to describe my feeling, but having tears in my eyes and deepest respect from my heart. The man standing in front of me is the ford professor at MIT, he practiced before each course even he had taught it for over 30 years, he showed his commitment and dedication to his students not by his words, but his actions! He is Prof Patrick Henry Winston, a great spirit who inspired thousands and thousands of brilliant minds. Prof Winston, please rest in peace… Thank you for teaching and mentoring... your commitment and dedication for students always live deeply in our heart!

We're so lucky that this gem of a lecture was captured before he died. Now he can deliver this talk every year, just like he did before.

he is literally putting into to practice what he is teaching as he is teaching it. incredible.

I wish I had seen this during my military career, everything he said about PP, mannerisms, etc was something I instinctively knew was wrong, but it was exactly how we were taught to teach as instructors/mentors. Fantastic information and an excellent educator. I understand he has sadly passed, but he is still educating a 52-year-old man, which is appreciated. This presentation is a very valuable gift he has left.

How to start a talk. 1. Never start with a joke, it always falls flat. 2. Start with an empowerment statement, i.e. what will the audience achieve after the talk. 3. Humans have only one language processor, so make sure they focus on what you're saying. ------------------------------------------ Sample Heuristics: 1. Cycle on the topic. Repeat what are talking about to reinforce it 2. Build a fence around your ideas, so audiences don't confuse them with the ideas from others. Tell them how your idea is different from others. 3. Use verbal punctuation to help audiences re-focus. State what you have covered so far and what is there to come. 4. Ask questions. Engage the audience with moderately difficult questions every now and then. But not very difficult ones. ------------------------------------------ The Tools Time & place: 1. Choose an appropriate time for talks. 11 am is a good time for the 1st lecture of the day. 2. The place should be well lit. 3. Know the place before hand, it should be cased so that you can address challenges if any. 4. Make sure it's reasonably populated. Boards & Props: 1. Chalks and boards are good for informing and teaching. 2. Boards are well paced medium, people can absorb content while you write or draw graphics. 6. Using Boards and props helps in empathetic mirroring i.e. audiences think they are doing the writing and drawing 3. You can used hands to draw attention. 4. Slides are good for exposing. 6. Don't use laser pointers as they reduce the speakers' chance to engage with audiences, use a sign-post instead. 7. Slides should have minimum amount of words. You do the talking and explanation of the points. 8. Font size should be large enough for easy reading. 5. Props are useful to help audiences visualize things. 9. Practice your talk with people who don't know your work so that they don't hallucinate whats not in the presentation. ------------------------------------------ Inspire 1. Show your passion towards the subject 2. Promise a solution to a problem 3. Inspire by igniting passion 3. Teach people how to think by: - Providing stories that they need to know - Providing questions that they need to ask about these stories - Providing mechanism to analyse these stories - Providing ways to put together stories - Providing ways to evaluate reliability of the stories ------------------------------------------ Persuade 1. Job Talks: Vision - Tell them about a problem they'd be interested in and provide your approach to the solution. Achievement - Provide the steps you will take to solve the problem 2. Getting Famous: Why? - Because you want your work to be recognized. How? - Brand your work, have a slogan, have a salient idea and have a story to tell. ------------------------------------------ How to End a Talk 1. The last slide - It should enumerate what the audience have learnt or achieved after this talk, give them the time to read. 2. Final words: - Never thank the audience. - End with a call to action. - Alright, you can tell a joke now, people will think they've had fun all the while.

Professor Winston passed away on July 19, 2019.We mostly know him by Artificial Intelligence Course at MIT OCW.

Summary: 00:00 🎖 Communication skills are vital for success in life; speaking, writing, and idea quality matter. 01:25 🏆 Knowledge, practice, and inherent talent influence effective communication; knowledge matters most. 02:20 📢 Learning various speaking techniques can significantly impact your success; a non-linear process. 03:17 📵 Avoid distractions during learning; laptops and cell phones off to engage fully. 04:39 🚀 Start with an empowerment promise, outlining what listeners will gain from the talk. 06:01 🔄 Repetition and cycling ideas can help ensure better understanding among the audience. 06:58 🧱 Build a fence around your idea to differentiate it from others and avoid confusion. 08:24 ❓ Use verbal punctuation and ask questions to keep the audience engaged and help them stay on track. 09:52 💼 Develop your personal speaking style by observing effective speakers and adapting their techniques. 10:20 ⏰ Choose an optimal time and well-lit environment for effective communication. 13:38 🖼 Use props, such as boards, to engage the audience and make concepts more tangible. 16:53 🎭 Effective use of props can enhance audience engagement through empathetic mirroring. 24:08 📊 Slides are effective for exposing ideas, but avoid reading them or overcrowding with text. 27:52 📊 Experiment: Slides with too much text make the audience focus on reading rather than listening to the speaker. Students remembered slide content over spoken information. 28:49 🚫 Eliminate Clutter: Excessive words on slides due to small fonts reduce audience engagement. Use easily legible fonts (around 40-50 size) to avoid cramming. 29:46 🖐 Avoid Laser Pointer: Laser pointers disconnect you from the audience, leading to lack of eye contact and engagement. Use arrows or other methods to guide attention. 32:08 📜 Too-Heavy Slides: Presentations with heavy text lack white space and visuals. Aim for balanced text and imagery to maintain audience interest. 38:39 🌟 Inspiration: Inspire by sharing passion about your topic. Express enthusiasm and excitement to engage your audience effectively. 41:31 💡 Teaching People How to Think: Educate by providing stories, questions, mechanisms, and ways to evaluate reliability of information, focusing on thinking skills. 43:28 💼 Job Talks: In job talks, establish your vision and show steps taken to solve a problem in the first five minutes. Practice with friends to refine your presentation. 48:38 🌟 Becoming Memorable: Create "Winston's star" for your work: symbol, slogan, surprise, salient idea, and story. Make sure your work stands out and is recognized. 53:17 🏁 Ending a Talk: Avoid ending with a list of collaborators; introduce them at the beginning. Avoid concluding with negative statements or questions. 54:34 🗣 Slides should effectively communicate your identity and message, avoiding wasted opportunities. 55:31 🧠 Conclude with a "Contributions" slide to highlight what you've achieved, not just conclusions. 56:56 😄 End with a joke to engage the audience and create a positive closing impression. 57:54 🙌 Avoid weak endings like just saying "thank you," which may imply politeness over engagement. 59:18 🎤 Observe how political speeches end to learn diverse ways to conclude effectively. 01:01:13 🎶 Learn from established conventions, like the Latin mass or concert clapping signals. 01:02:09 🙏 Salute the audience by expressing gratitude, valuing their time, and lea

Honestly, working retail for a few years set me up for life. I was so anxious about speaking to strangers when I was younger. Retail gave me the skills to go forward in life and now I’m one of the best speakers in my organisation. When I travel I can make friends easily and have regular nights out with new people in foreign lands. It’s a skill that makes life very well.