2025.32 Offer More Examples
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for September 4, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Offer More Examples I have a rule of thumb: The less ideal this audience is for my expertise, the more I need to tell nested or linked stories. (See the link to the stories for more specifics.) With more stories, I can bring my less-than-ideal audience along with me on this presentation's journey. That way, they tend to stay with me and continue to pay attention to the content....
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2025.31 Impostor Syndrome Can Create Your Fear
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for August 29, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Recognize if Impostor Syndrome Creates Your Fear Some people have trouble recognizing their expertise. Instead, they worry that "everyone" will discover they are a fraud. Most of those people have deep expertise. They might not have a lot of speaking experience, but they have the expertise. Instead of allowing Impostor Syndrome to create fear or discourage you from speaking,...
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2025.30 Experience Reports Use Nested Stories
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for August 22, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Experience Reports Use Nested Stories Experience reports tell two stories: the first story explains the problems a specific organization encountered and the choices its people made to solve those problems. The second story is how the reporter--you, the speaker--changed as you worked with the organization. These two stories are an example of nested stories. However, you, as the...
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2025.29 Anonymize People in Your Stories
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for August 15, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Anonymize People in Your Stories If you're talking about real people, anonymize them. I always tell my audience that every story is true, and that includes all the stories in this book. I always changed their names and often their genders. That creates realistic stories while protecting the innocent and the people who did not realize the effects of their actions. I don't call the...
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2025.28 Offer Value to the Audience
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for August 8, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Offer Value to the Audience The more value you know you offer, the less likely you are to feel that fear of public speaking. The first piece of value is often the stories you can use to help the audience empathize with your expertise and experience. I asked you to consider three writers and consultants whose work you find valuable. I hope you have at least two books and one...
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2025.27 Speaking Clarifies the Value and Quality of Your Ideas
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for August 1, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Speaking Clarifies the Value and Quality of Your Ideas What if you don't yet have anything to market? You might be in the same position I was in 1979. I didn't speak then to market myself. Instead, I was showing my company's expertise. That's a great way to start becoming an effective speaker and to practice your speaking skills. And if you "only" speak inside the organization, you can...
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2025.26 If In Doubt, Mic Up
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for July 25, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Do You Always Need a Microphone? I have a guideline that might work for you. If the room has a microphone, I use it. And, if I'm speaking to more than ten or so people around a conference table, I use a microphone. Without a microphone, speakers need to spend energy projecting their voices, not just staying present and making eye contact with the other people. In the past, I have...
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2025.25 Identify Your Subject Matter Expertise
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for July 18, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Identify Your Subject Matter Expertise While you might want to speak about your general expertise, many speakers prefer to narrow their topics to their specific expertise. That's called "subject matter expertise." Fiction writers have a wide variety of subject matter expertise. Because they wrote their books, they know how they created their characters, settings, and worlds. For...
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2025.24 Clarify the Introduction Timing
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for July 11, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Clarify the Introduction Timing At many technical conferences, no one introduces the speaker. Instead, the speaker introduces themselves. For in-person conferences, I put my title slide up as people enter the room. Then, when it's time to start, I say, "I'm Johanna Rothman, and my topic today is ..." For a virtual presentation, I often send the organizer my bio or an introduction....
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2025.23 Network with Other Speakers
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for July 4, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Network with Other Speakers The more other speakers know you, the more likely you are to receive offers to write, speak, and otherwise offer your content in different ways. This is how content marketing works. It's a reinforcement mechanism for your expertise. Here are the lessons I learned from all this networking: * If I had not submitted a proposal, no one would have...
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This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for August 8, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.
This is from the Effective Public Speaking book.
Offer Value to the Audience
The more value you know you offer, the less likely you are to feel that fear of public speaking. The first piece of value is often the stories you can use to help the audience empathize with your expertise and experience.
I asked you to consider three writers and consultants whose work you find valuable. I hope you have at least two books and one presentation in mind.
If you review just one of those, you'll see something fascinating. Those writers and consultants offer stories--often to support their logic--to offer value to their audiences.
Fiction writers often have the "obvious" story in the book. However, many talented fiction writers offer a story-within-a-story frame for their books. Those are nested stories.