As I learned during the pandemic, my words have power for good or ill. I want to make sure that my words don’t have a negative effect on anyone. This includes my family, friends, students, colleagues, and even strangers.
I am often asked to talk about what I do and why I do it. The simple answer: I am here because I care deeply about the world, and about helping others improve it.
Try not to talk about yourself too much when you are in front of an audience. If you are, then what you say has little impact on the audience.
You’ll never be able to please everyone all the time, so the trick is to please as many people as possible.
You should consider your audience when speaking publicly. What is your audience thinking when they hear you speak, and how do you want them to respond? To make matters worse, it’s likely that people who are not members of your audience (all other audience members) also hear your speech and weigh in on what they think, too. Preparation for a speech is key.