Become Public Speaker
12 weeks · 4 milestones
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
Deliver 5 talks to real audiences — not practice sessions, not rehearsals, not recorded talks without a live audience. At least 3 of the 5 must be to audiences who did not already know you personally. At least 2 must be more than 5 minutes in length. Formats include: a conference talk, a meetup presentation, a team all-hands, a workshop, a community event, a professional panel, a TED/TEDx talk, or a classroom session. For each talk, document: the audience and venue, the topic, the length, and one thing that surprised you about how the talk was received.
Proof required
Submit a log of all 5 talks: for each, the date, the audience (organisation and approximate size), the topic, the length, one thing that surprised you about how it was received, and one piece of audience feedback (written, verbal, or a follow-up question). Submit at least 1 recording or photograph showing you presenting to a live audience.
What gets checked
- At least 3 audiences are people who did not already know you — a series of talks to the same team or the same community of friends does not constitute building public speaking experience; the discomfort of unknown audiences is the critical learning condition
- At least 2 talks are 5+ minutes — a 90-second lightning talk and 4 one-minute intros do not constitute public speaking experience; depth of delivery is what reveals speaking weaknesses
- Surprise entry for each talk is specific — 'they liked it' is not a surprise; 'they spent 8 minutes asking about the third point which I had expected to be a minor detail; I had underprepared the sections they found most interesting' is