For the past three months I have been given a short course to local Chinese Americans on

“How to give talks”. Attached below are my final instructions:

Hi all, December 1st 2024 came and gone. I wish to thank

·         Leeying for providing the office space for this course in the last three months.

·         The attendees for this last meeting – Melanie Lin and Peter Lee who previously have already given useful feedbacks, and Hua Wang in his official capacity as leader of CAs in Lexington and Nationally.

·         Melanie for bring an extra personal gift to me for giving this course. I appreciate this immensely

·         Although many of you missed the last meeting, I thank you for your encouragement and kind words and participation at previous meetings

·         Here are my takeaways for giving this course (as promised earlier):

o   Never include information on your PowerPoinjt slides that you do not have time to discuss/explain. They only serve as distractions

o   Most of us ordinary mortals do not have the luxury of a teleprompter (such as the President or high government officers). Thus, don’t ever read a speech. Rehearse your talk beforehand

o   Never let your slides leave your side. Don’t check them with your luggage or entrust them to someone else to carry them for you

o   Things offered for free are probably worth the same from the viewpoint of the recipients. No investments, no commitments.

§  E-mail messages are so old fashioned that only old foggy like me still using/reading them. Thus, some of you don’t read or respond to notices

§  You are too polite to tell me that how this course can be improved even though I repeatedly pledged that  I don’t mind criticisms and appreciate feedback/attendance so that I can improve next time.

§  If you still think you can improve on your public speaking go join Toast Master International (it costs 60 dollar for six monthly meetings). Well worth the cost and commitment. I did five decades ago. It was free then.

o   Lastly, remember the secret of giving good talks is: Preparation (rehearse beforehand) , Preparation (for possible disasters) , and Preparation (review for improvements after the talk for next time). Study the home work material I gave out during the past three months.