Memes are a common currency, a way of communicating that creates a shortcut to understanding and helps to bring people together. That’s true whether your parents are posting cringey Minion memes on Facebook or whether you’re making your colleagues laugh through an informal aside on Slack.
There are memes about literally everything, and so today we’re going to be taking a look at our own specialization and sharing just a few of our favorite public speaking memes. Let’s get started:
Audience participation is all well and good and can be a great way to bring your public speaking engagements to life, but there’s a difference between being engaging and being cringey. A sure fire way to turn people off is by trying to force unnatural participation by repeatedly ordering them to shout something they don’t feel like shouting.
This meme highlights a common piece of public speaking advice that’s designed to help people feel at ease in the auditorium. It can help you make sure that you’re not just looking down at your notes or your lectern, and it sure beats the alternative of picturing your audience without their clothes on.
Filler words like “um” and “uh” add no value to what you’re saying and basically just serve as a way to fill some time. That’s why we turn to them – we subconsciously sprinkle them in while we’re thinking what to say. You should take the time to train yourself to eradicate them from your speech.
Among musicians, poets, and comedians who perform at open mic nights, there’s an unwritten rule that you have an obligation to watch the other acts, rather than just show up for your gig only and then head home. The same is true for public speakers. It’s considered polite to watch the other speakers at the very least, and to engage with their presentations wherever possible. And never pull this face!
The way that we imagine things to be and the objective reality are often very different. It’s easy for us to think that the audience is laughing at us when we have a memory blank or we struggle to get our words out, but that’s rarely the case. Instead, they’re usually just wishing us the best and hoping that we overcome our challenge.
Nobody likes it when a speaker just reads directly from their slides. It’s super unengaging, and it also leaves people wondering whether it might not be quicker and easier for them to have just read your slides in their own time.
Some people excel at written communication while others are better suited to verbal communication. If you fall into the former category, it may be that you’re better off writing a document than giving a speech, but things aren’t always that simple. The good news is that anyone can learn to be a better public speaker, even if it’s not naturally their strong point.
No matter how bad you think things are going with your presentation, it could always be worse. In fact, it can sometimes help to consider the worst case scenario, because then you can always look on the bright side.
Most people find data to be boring. That’s why it often makes much more sense to tell stories, and have those stories informed by the data. People remember stories more than they remember raw data, so consider using them to help to get your point across.
George Harrison famously sang that “all things must pass”, and that’s as true for public speaking as it is for life in general. When you’re worried about an upcoming public speaking engagement, it can help if you remind yourself that all things will pass and will bring you confidence for the next time.
This builds on the last point, and while it’s obviously facetious and nobody would really rather die than deliver a presentation, it does highlight the valid point that the reverse is actually true. Even if you’re not a fan of public speaking, it’s better to be doing the eulogy than to be lying in the coffin.
Slideshows are often a necessary evil in the public speaking industry, and there are plenty of times when you can’t get out of using them. The good news is that you can often avoid them, and even when you can’t, there are alternatives to PowerPoint out there like Prezi. Try to use slides only when your subject matter dictates it.
As you’ve, hopefully, seen from this article, memes can be a great way of communicating information. That’s why they can also be a powerful tool to use in your presentations – although that depends very much on your audience. For an informal presentation to your colleagues, they can work out well; if you’re pitching for serious investment, maybe not so much.
This meme is great because it reminds us that we all did public speaking at school, whether in the form of show and tell or graded presentations to earn our qualifications. When you’re worried about a presentation that’s coming up, it can be comforting to know that you’ve already done similar dozens of times, even as a child.
This is a basic one, but you’d be surprised at how often people forget it. No matter what kind of presentation you’re giving, it’s always a good idea to ask people at the end if they have any questions that they’d like you to answer. Let them know in advance that you’re going to do this so that they don’t keep interrupting you while you’re talking – unless you want that kind of interaction throughout.
Now that you’ve seen a few of our top public speaking memes, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to link us to your favorites in the comments so that we can check them out, and you’re also welcome to share this post or any of the memes within it amongst your professional network.
We’ll be back soon with another article, so keep your eyes peeled. We’ll see you soon!
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