Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas.

Formula for quality of communication: K (Knowledge), P (Practice), and T (Talent). [In the order mentioned] if one does well in the first two, they could be better than a person who is good at only talent.

1. How to start?
   1. Not with a joke
      1. People are getting adjusted to your parameters like closing stuff. (Laptop, mobile, notebooks, settling in, etc)
   2. Start with a promise
      1. What they will know after the talk is over
      2. How it would help
2. Samples
   1. Cycle around the idea: most of the time people will forget what the talk was about, so repeat the idea of your talk helps.
   2. Build a fence: Distinguish it with other ideas.
      1. Ex: How investing is different from trading
   3. Verbal punctuation
      1. As people will zone out from the conversation, always have points where one could join back the conversation.
         1. Like breaking the talk into parts.
            1. So, if I miss part one I could at least join in for part 2.
   4. Ask a question
      1. One can wait for an answer for roughly around 7 secs.
      2. Questions shouldn't be so hard that nobody could answer.
3. Tools
   1. Time and Place
      1. 11 am
         1. People are awake by that time and they probably had their breakfast.
      2. Place should be well lit
         1. Dark rooms can make people sleepy
            1. Most common reply: Slides can be seen better if lights are closed.
               1. He replies, "It's much more difficult to see slides with eye shut"
      3. Cased
         1. Check the place before hand for any surprises.
      4. Populated
         1. Size of the place should be to reasonably fill it.
         2. Like, more than half full
   2. Black/white Board:
      1. Use chalk/marker if purpose is informing
         1. Use slides for exposing
      2. Graphics
      3. Speed
      4. Target
         1. This helps to use your hands and avoid keeping hands in your pocket or behind your back.
         2. As some culture consider various hand gesture as sign of rudeness or you might have a weapon.
         3. Board helps you to point towards stuff
   3. Props
      1. They can be used to look at the question from a different angel
      2. Due "Empathic mirroring" people prefer props and boards because it gives a feeling as if you were the speaker doing the same thing. (unlike Slides)
   4. Slides

      1. There are always too many of them with too many words.

         1. Remove the title
         2. Mind can process only one thing at a time: either what speaker is saying or what is written on slides

      2. Don't read your slide.

         1. People know how to read

      3. Slides should be far away from the speaker

      4. Example Before and after:

         

         

      5. 40-50 words size works best

      6. avoid laser pointer

         1. It removes the eye contact of the speaker
         2. Rather put a arrow on the slide to point

      7. Keep it light:

         1. Mix of pictures and text
         2. Give time when you reach a text slide
4. Informing
   1. Promise at the start what one would learn
   2. Inspiration: when someone exhibits passion of what they are doing, people get inspired.
   3. Teach how to think: Do it through a story
5. Persuading
   1. Oral exams
      1. People fail in this because
         1. Failure to situate
            1. talking about research in context
         2. Failure to practice
            1. Don't practice with people who don't know what you are doing
            2. Look for people who are older than you.
               1. "The older somebody is the more they understand where they are in the world"
   2. Job talks
      1. Vision
         1. A problem that somebody cares about and there is something new in your approach.
         2. Ex:
            1. Problem: understanding nature of human intelligence
            2. Approach: asking question like what makes us different from chimpanzees and Neanderthals.
      2. Done something
         1. List the steps that need to be taken to achieve the solution
            1. No need that you have done all the steps.
         2. Conclude by your contributions
      3. The candidate must explain the above two things within 5 mins
   3. Getting famous
      1. Why?
         1. One gets used to being famous but not being ignored.
         2. Your ideas are like children and you don't want them to go into world of rags.
         3. So, if you are famous only then people will recognize the value of your idea.
      2. How?
         1. Symbol: Have a symbol associated with your work
         2. Slogan: Have a slogan
         3. Surprise: You can learn something definite from each example.
         4. Salient idea: an idea that sticks out.
            1. Your idea could be a near miss to a solution. Then it will stick.
         5. Story: How you did it.
   4. How to stop
      1. Final slide
         1. Don't put your collaborators on the last slide, rather it should be on the first slide
         2. Never end a talk with, "Questions?" slide
         3. Don't link to another website for more details
         4. Don't end with "The end" slide.
         5. The above examples just waste an opportunity to tell people who you are.
         6. End with your contributions and wait for people to read it.
      2. Final words
         1. Tell a joke
            1. It's okay now as people have adjusted with your communication
         2. Don't end with Thank You
            1. Its a weak move, as it suggests people have stay there out of politeness
         3. You could salute
            1. Say something about how much you value your time at a place
            2. Ex: " It's been great fun being here and look forward to coming back in the future."