How to Be Brilliant at Public Speaking, 2nd Edition

Chapter 8

Structure and the hero’s journey

Key wisdom from this chapter

• Take your audience on a hero’s journey: the best talks make the audience feel like the heroes of the story – that they have had an adventure that’s taught them something useful.
• Use the opening to get them excited: the opening is like the start of a mountain expedition. Quickly build trust and let them know which mountain you’re climbing together.
• Build the drama: let the next thing you say be more interesting than the one before. That’s how you stop a talk from sagging in the middle.
• Close with power: reach a climax in the logic or emotion of your talk and then wrap up quickly and powerfully.
• Get out the editing scissors: go through your talk and cut out any content that’s ...