Simon Willison’s Weblog

How do I overcome my fear of public speaking (of people just “switching off”, or simply getting up and leaving the room)?

24th November 2013

My answer to How do I overcome my fear of public speaking (of people just “switching off”, or simply getting up and leaving the room)? on Quora

Look for opportunities to give “lightning talks”—5 minute talks given as part of a series of talks. These are excellent for beginner speakers as they help force you to get to the point as quickly as possible, and you only have to survive for five minutes! They are good for the audience too as if they don’t enjoy our talk they only have to sit politely for a couple of minutes before the next talk comes along.