On Speaking and Allowing the Audience to Optimize You

Artful speaking is a combination of careful planning and purposeful abandonment. The speaker plans, makes notes and outlines their remarks. When it comes time to step onto the platform, the speaker subjects all of this preparation to the imminent priority of the audience’s response. This requires a different type of preparation — preparing one’s self. One must be prepared to surrender their mechanical plan to the realities of the action. You do not optimize a presentation so much as you allow the audience to optimize you.