Stuart Langridge: Don’t read off the screen
Nobody knows if you make a mistake. Carry on, and correct it when you can. But keep things simple. Someone drowning in information finds it hard to listen.
Record your practices and watch yourself back. It can be a humbling experience, but you are your own best teacher, if you’re willing to listen.
Some people script their talks, some people don’t. Whether you prefer bullet points or a soliloquy is up to you. Whichever you choose, remember: don’t just read out your notes. Your talk is a performance, not a recital.
Oliver Burkeman: Everyone is (still) winging it
That’s why I don’t much like the term “imposter syndrome” to describe what’s going on here. It makes it sound like an acute and debilitating psychological disorder, and maybe sometimes it is. But far more widespread, I think, is a sort of barely conscious background assumption that other people must have a better idea of what they’re doing than we do. This sort of assumption isn’t debilitating. But it does make life subtly worse. It leads to the belief that you need to go especially hard on yourself, in order to hold your own among your peers; and it makes you hold back from doing things that might add meaning to your life, on the grounds that you’re still waiting for a feeling of full authority to arrive.