How to Speak: The Art of Presenting Ideas
Patrick Winston teaches the mechanics of effective speaking: start with an empowerment promise, cycle on your subject, use blackboards and props over slides, build a personal repertoire of techniques, and end with contributions—not thank you. Success in life depends on speaking ability, knowledge, and practice far more than innate talent.
Why Speaking Matters
Success is determined by speaking, writing, and ideas
Your career and life outcomes depend primarily on your ability to communicate—both orally and in writing—and the quality of your ideas. These three factors, in that order, are the primary determinants of success.
Knowledge and practice matter far more than talent
Communication skill is determined by the formula: Knowledge + Practice + (small) Talent. The talent component is minimal; what truly matters is how much you know and how much you practice. Even people with natural talent can be outperformed by those with superior knowledge and practice.
One technique can change your trajectory
You will encounter multiple speaking techniques in any comprehensive presentation. Often, just one of these techniques—one heuristic, one approach—will be the one that gets you the job or changes your life. The impact is non-linear and unpredictable.
Core Speaking Heuristics
Cycle on your subject three times
Repeat your main ideas multiple times from different angles. At any given moment, about 20% of your audience will be mentally foggy, so cycling ensures everyone eventually absorbs the material. This is not insulting to intelligence; it's a recognition of human attention limits.
Build a fence around your idea
Distinguish your idea from others by explicitly stating what it is not. Say 'this is an arch, but that is not an arch,' or 'my algorithm is linear, whereas Jones's is exponential.' This prevents confusion and makes your contribution clear.
Use verbal punctuation to mark seams
Provide explicit landmarks where the audience can 'get back on the bus' if they've zoned out. Enumerate your points ('first, second, third'), announce transitions, and use phrases like 'here's my outline' to signal structure and give listeners a chance to re-engage.
Ask questions to re-engage the audience
Pose carefully calibrated questions that are neither too obvious nor too hard. Wait up to seven seconds for an answer—silence feels long but is the standard. Questions help listeners stay engaged and give them a moment to process.
Time and Place
11 AM is the optimal lecture time
By 11 AM, most people are awake but not yet fatigued from meals or other activities. It avoids the post-lunch energy dip and the early-morning grogginess.
Keep the room well lit
Dim lighting signals to the brain that it's time to sleep. Always request full lights, even if it means slides are harder to see. As Winston says, 'it's extremely hard to see slides through closed eyelids.'
Case the venue beforehand
Visit the speaking location in advance to identify any surprises or challenges. This allows you to prepare interventions or at least mentally adjust expectations. Knowing the room removes anxiety.
Ensure the room is appropriately populated
The venue should be more than half full but doesn't need to be packed. An empty room makes attendees wonder what's more interesting elsewhere; an overstuffed room is uncomfortable. Right-sizing matters.
Tools: Blackboards, Props, and Slides
Blackboards are best for teaching
Blackboards offer three key advantages: graphic quality (you can easily draw), speed (writing pace matches learning pace), and they serve as a target for your hands. Slides are better for exposing ideas at conferences; blackboards are better for teaching.
Props create empathetic mirroring
Physical props and demonstrations activate mirror neurons in the audience's brain, allowing them to feel themselves performing the action. A spinning bicycle wheel with duct tape teaches mechanics better than a picture because viewers can mentally simulate the motion.
Slides should have minimal text
Audiences have one language processor. If they're reading dense slides, they can't listen to you. Limit slides to a few words, use large fonts (minimum 40-50 point), and rely on images. Too many words force people to choose between reading and listening.
Avoid laser pointers
Laser pointers force you to turn away from the audience and point at the screen, breaking eye contact and engagement. Instead, embed arrows or labels directly on slides and say 'look at the arrow' while facing the audience.
Eliminate visual clutter
Remove backgrounds, logos, titles, bullets, and unnecessary decorations. Print slides and lay them out to check for air and white space. A cluttered slide signals that the presenter doesn't respect the audience's attention.
Use the 'hapax legomenon' slide sparingly
A hapax legomenon is a slide you can use exactly once per presentation—one that's intentionally complex or confusing to make a point (e.g., showing the impossible complexity of governing Afghanistan). You get one per paper, one per book, one per talk.
Special Cases: Informing and Inspiring
Start with an empowerment promise
Tell the audience what they will know at the end that they don't know now. This is the reason they're here. It's more effective than starting with a joke, which falls flat when people are still settling in.
Inspire through passion, new perspectives, and encouragement
Surveys show that inspiration comes from three sources: high school teachers who said 'you can do it,' senior mentors who showed a new way to see a problem, and anyone who exhibits genuine passion about their work. Express what you find cool and exciting.
Teaching people to think means providing stories
Humans are storytelling animals. To teach thinking, provide stories people need to know, questions to ask about them, mechanisms for analysis, ways to combine stories, and methods to evaluate reliability. Education is fundamentally about narrative.
Job Talks and Getting Famous
You have five minutes to establish vision and accomplishment
In a job talk, hiring committees need to see two things quickly: your vision (a problem you care about plus a novel approach) and evidence that you've done something. You have approximately five minutes to establish both before you've lost them.
Structure a job talk like a sandwich
Start with vision and problem context. Middle: enumerate the steps needed to solve the problem (you don't have to have done all of them). End: list your contributions (a mirror of the steps). This framework clearly shows what you've accomplished.
Practice with people who don't know your work
Don't practice with colleagues who know your research—they'll hallucinate missing material. Practice with friends unfamiliar with your work. They'll catch gaps you can't see. Faculty supervisors are also poor practice partners for the same reason.
Older examiners are easier than younger ones
The amount of flak you receive is proportional to the examiner's age. Older faculty understand their place in the world and ask measured questions. Younger people try to prove how smart they are and ask tougher questions. Seek committees with gray hair.
Use Winston's Star to get remembered
Five elements (all starting with S) make work memorable: Symbol (a visual or concept), Slogan (a memorable phrase), Surprise (something unexpected), Salient idea (one that sticks out), and Story (how you did it and why it matters). All five together ensure your work is recognized.
How to End
End with a contributions slide, not conclusions
Your final slide should list your contributions, not conclusions. Conclusions are generic; contributions show what you've done. This slide stays visible while people ask questions and file out, leaving them with your accomplishments.
Put collaborators on the first slide, not the last
Listing many collaborators on the final slide suggests you didn't do much individually. Acknowledge collaborators on the first slide instead, so the last slide remains focused on your contributions.
Avoid ending with 'thank you'
Saying 'thank you' or 'thank you for listening' implies the audience stayed out of politeness and wanted to be elsewhere. It's a weak ending. Once applause starts, you can mouth a thank you, but it shouldn't be your final words.
End with a benediction, salute, or other convention
Strong endings use alternatives: a benediction ('God bless you'), a salute to the audience ('it's been great being here'), a signal like a handshake (as in concerts), or a joke (by then, people are ready for humor). These signal closure without saying thank you.
Practical Rules
No laptops or cell phones during the talk
Humans have one language processor. If it's engaged with email or browsing, you're distracted and distract others. Open laptops also drive the speaker to perform worse, harming everyone's experience.
Don't start with a joke
At the beginning of a talk, people are still settling in, adjusting to your voice, and putting away devices. They're not ready for humor. Jokes fall flat early; save them for the end when people are engaged.
Hands visible and engaged
Avoid putting hands in pockets or behind your back—it looks like you're concealing a weapon and is insulting in many cultures. Use the blackboard or props as a target for your hands so they're naturally engaged and visible.
Notable quotes
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. — Patrick Winston
It's extremely hard to see slides through closed eyelids. — Patrick Winston
You never get used to being ignored. — Patrick Winston
Action items
- Identify one speaking technique from this lecture and practice it in your next presentation.
- Visit your speaking venue in advance to case it and identify any challenges.
- Create a personal repertoire by watching effective speakers and noting what makes them successful.
- Practice your talk with friends who don't know your work, not with colleagues who do.
- Prepare a final slide listing your contributions, not conclusions.
- Limit slides to 40-50 point font and minimal text; prioritize images and white space.
- Use a blackboard or props instead of slides when teaching or informing.
- Structure a job talk as a sandwich: vision, steps, implementation, contributions.
- Develop your own version of Winston's Star for your research or ideas.
- End your next talk without saying 'thank you'—use a benediction, salute, or joke instead.