My last 60 seconds of WIP for 2023:
The transcript:
I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for December 28, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.
This excerpt is from a book about presentation skills for consultants, managers, and writers.
Speakers hear a ton of advice from everyone. Some people say to take a deep breath and then wait for the audience to stop talking. That can work–unless you're the after-dinner speaker. You might wait many minutes to compete with the drinks and the dessert.
Worse, some people suggest you, the speaker, imagine everyone in the audience naked.
That seems nuts to me for several reasons:
- Your audience wants you to succeed.
- You're speaking at this event to educate, influence, or entertain people.
- Imagining the audience naked does nothing to build mutual respect. In fact, the more you can build mutual respect with your audience, the faster you can improvise–if necessary–to give the audience more of what they need.
I don't see how imagining naked people helps with any of that.