Recently at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Chris Anderson, the head of TED, gave a talk about the future of the internet. His entire talk took about 30 minutes and it was not until 25 minutes into the talk when he shared his four design shifts he sees as needing to happen for the future of the internet. Why did he take 25 minutes to tell us something he could say in five minutes? He brought us on a visual journey, using AI-generated images to describe parts of the mind the internet can have an effect on. Instead of just naming parts of the brain or human traits, he created entire characters and related them to characters we know from Star Wars to embody these traits and actions. He had us all hooked following his story, until he reached the last five minutes and told us his most important points that he wanted to make in the speech. Why didn’t he just open with those 4 points? Well he could have, but would it have been as memorable? Would we have paid as much attention? Instead, we were left with the memory of a visual storyline that led up to some important ideas.
Behind the curtain
The truth is that there was a lot of imperfect public speaking that led up to that moment, but as audience members we never see what’s behind the curtain. The hours of preparation, practice, and performance put into presenting that single idea. A good public speaker has been known to build and destroy empires, advance societies, and captivate people and gain support behind good ideas and bad ones.
A translator of ideas
A good public speaker is like a good language translator, only they’re not translating a language. They’re translating ideas into an understandable format that audiences can collectively understand and engage with. They’re some of our best communicators, but they were not always this way. They learned to be a good public speaker and it's possible you can too.
Demystifying the art of public speaking
The Public Speaking experience on Gamoteca is a great way to get some human-connected, practice based experience in public speaking. It streamlines some of the best resources available from experts in the field, such as Chris Anderson of TED, and public speaking coach and author Caroline Goyder, in a 30-60 minute session. Played either as a one or two-player experience to get the most out of your practice with peer feedback, it gives anyone the opportunity to get ahead in the art of public speaking.
Get your ideas out of your head and into others
The interactive session doesn’t just have to be used to prepare for an actual public speech, but can also help with presenting any great idea you’ve had stuck in your mind that you want to translate to others. Looking to gain investors for that big idea you’ve had knocking around? How about the fundraiser for the charity you care about? Or maybe it's about activating people for a cause you care about? Try the Public Speaking experience on the Gamoteca learner app today and be sure to share the game code with someone else to also help them with their public speaking skills.
If you are looking to have someone join you in this experience and practice their public speaking as well, get started by creating a free Gamoteca Creator account.