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How to Speak
RESOURCE HOME By the end of the next 60 minutes you will have been exposed to a lot of
ideas, some of which you will incorporate into your own repertoire, and they will
ensure that you get the maximum opportunity to have your ideas valued and
HOW TO SPEAK accepted by the people you speak with.

— PATRICK WINSTON
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 Search this Video
PATRICK WINSTON: The Uniform Code of Military Justice specifies court martial for any
officer who sends a soldier into battle without a weapon. There ought to be a similar protection
for students because students shouldn't go out into life without the ability to communicate, and
that's because your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your
ability to write, and the quality of your ideas, in that order. I know that I can be successful in
this because the quality of communication, your speaking, your writing, is largely determined

> Download from Internet Archive (MP4 - 144MB)

> Download English-US transcript (PDF)
> Download English-US caption (SRT)

Background

Around 40 years ago, Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70 gave his first talk on How to Speak. As he wrote in this Slice of MIT
article from 2010:

Robert Sjoberg, SM ’81, made me do it.

We were sitting in my office, whining about somebody's horrible lectures, when he said, “You should do an IAP class on how to speak.”

“No,” I said, “I've never given a lecture I rate at better than a B+; I'd be depressed for a month afterward; it would take a week to prepare;
and, besides, nobody would come.”

“I'll come," he said.

Actually, that first edition of How to Speak drew about 100. This past week about 250 showed up. It's a little hard to say exactly because [the
lecture hall] officially seats 150 and perhaps another 100 sat on the stairs and floor or stood in the back or watched from the hall.

It became so popular, in fact, that the annual talk had to be limited to the first 300 participants. Every year, Professor Winston improved upon the
talk. As he put it, "There is much more now, of course, because I keep learning new things. I've added techniques for passing oral exams, delivering
successful job-interview talks, and ensuring that ideas become as famous as they ought to be.

Outline

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TOPIC
VIDEO

Introduction @00:16

Rules of Engagement @03:11

How to Start @04:15

Four Sample Heuristics @05:38

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The Tools: Time and Place @10:17
 SEE IN
TOPIC
VIDEO

The Tools: Boards, Props, and Slides @13:24

Informing: Promise, Inspiration, How to Think @36:30

Persuading: Oral Exams, Job Talks, Getting

@41:30
Famous

How to Stop: Final Slide, Final Words @53:06

Final Words: Joke, Thank You, Examples @56:35

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