I’ve been doing a handful of speaking events lately.  The last few I spoke at, I was the youngest person in the room.  And at the end of the month, I’ll be giving a presentation to 1000+ people in our company.  For presentations like these, our company rarely asks people under the age of 30 to speak.  I’m 22… and nervous as hell.

Which is the point of this post.  To write what I know about speaking and to learn what other young speakers have dealt with.

Here is what I’ve learned so far:

1)      Establish Credibility - The beginning of a presentation should grab the audience’s attention.  If you have a baby face like me, you’ll already have their attention because they’ll be thinking, “Who is this kid and why is he here?”  You better have an answer to that question and you better answer it early.

2)      Don’t Bullshit the Audience - You don’t know everything… don’t act like you do.  It’s o.k. to admit what you don’t know. 

3)      Don’t Reveal Your Age (Err… Sometimes) - Not revealing your age can give you an advantage because some people might think you’re older than you really are.  Which is good.  I break this rule sometimes because I have a good story to tell and the story follows my next rule…

4)      Make Fun Of Yourself - This goes for any speaker, but it’s especially important if you’re young.  Making fun of yourself shows humility and it’s a joke that won’t offend anyone.  Plus, our generation is different.  We might as well make fun of it.

5)      Don’t Talk About College - It goes back to the age thing.  College makes you look young and inexperienced.

6)      Have Really, Really Good (Original) Content - This is a must.  If you’re asked to speak, you better have something worthwhile to say.  And if you’re younger than everyone else, give them content that YOU create.  Don’t recite something you’ve read in a book because, odds are, the audience has already read it.  Want great content? Start a blog.

7)      Get Off The Stage - Podiums are boring and are a barrier to any chance of conversation.  Get off the stage and interact with the audience.  It’s hard, and scary, and nerve-wracking because you don’t know what will happen… But that’s also what makes it fun.

Those are a few things I’ve learned… What else can I add to this list? 

(Tom Krieglstein is a fantastic speaker that got started at a very early age.  He’s passed some of his advice on to me.)