For my holiday blog and present to readers and those passionate about good public speaking, here is Clifford Stoll:  http://tinyurl.com/djsg9v.  Stoll may be the weirdest public speaker I've ever seen, but you probably have seen weirder ones.  Let me know your nominations for the title, and I'll blog on the best ones over the holidays.  In the meanwhile, Stoll’s TED performance will teach you a good deal about how to hold the interest of the audience.  

1.  Dare to go to the edge.  Stoll’s performance is idiosyncratic, but you can’t take your eyes off him.  You don’t know what he’s going to do next.  Most speakers start predictably – I’m glad to be here – and continue that way – What I’m going to talk about today is xxxxxx – and audiences zone out as a result.  The speaker sets the parameters, so there’s no excuse:  if you’re boring, you’ve only got yourself to blame. 

2.  Contrast is the key to holding the stage.   Stoll doesn’t jump around like a man possessed the entire talk.  He slows down, softens his voice, and tells the audience something moving every now and then.  That contrast is the key to his art, and his appeal.  Speakers take heed:  little Johnny or Jane One-Note never holds an audience for long.

3.  Reveal a real emotion to win the audience’s heart.  Stoll’s talk contains a tribute to a mentor of his, Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog Synthesizer, musician, and rare human being.  And Stoll closes with a touching tribute to learning and the liberal arts.  He’s being real there, and we reward his opening of his heart by taking him into our own. 

4.  Remember that you’re giving a performance, and you have to be authentic, at the same time.  Great public speaking is a paradox.  You have to reveal your heart AND you have to keep in mind that you’re performing.  Many people give sloppy talks using the excuse that they have to be real.  And many people give shallow, inauthentic talks, using the excuse that they have to perform.  The truth is that you have to do both.  It’s a paradox.  Great speakers embrace that paradox and find truth in performance – and performance in truth. 

Happy holidays!