Ask Brooks

Public speaking

I am given the opportunity to give talk about my work at the Beijing Center of Photography. I would really love to talk about non-technical things but lost where to start. I am writing down all the things I want to say and then arrange it later on. As of now, all of my thoughts are still scattered on a piece of paper. I am wondering if you have any thoughts on how to go about this.

— Red

Before we started LensWork in 1993, I had a management consulting company and spent 45 weeks a year on the road, for over ten years, giving public talks. It's something I know a bit about, so thanks for asking.

1. First, never speak about something you don't know about. Restrict your comments to areas in which you have experience and first-hand knowledge. You are not all-knowing, so don't pretend to be. Just be yourself, talk about something you know about, and you'll be just fine.
2. I've always found it best to have only a few major points in any given talk — typically 2-3 major concepts and that's it. Trying to say too much about too many things can overwhelm both the audience and your own mind. Clarity and depth are more important than shallow width.
3. Speaking to a point generally means taking one of two directions: Start with the general idea and work your way down to examples and specifics, or: Start with examples and specifics and extract up to a general principle. Both ways work and you can even mix them in a single talk. Failure to do one or the other, however, generally results in a bunch of rambling that is difficult for an audience to wrap their minds around.
4. Don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. Don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. Don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. And just in case you missed it the first three times, don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. The only people who can pull this off effectively are professional actors and politicians — but come to think of it this is actually one group.
5. Props are your friends. By this, I don't mean slides or a Powerpoint presentation. These are good, too, but props are physical things that help the audience focus on the point you are making. They often add a touch of humor and entertainment value to the talk, too.
6. The lectern in a safe zone, but it also separates you from the audience like a barrier. Don't ever forget that the audience wants you to succeed; they are rooting for you to give a good talk; they are your friends, not your judges. Engage them like the friends they are. Eye contact, walking out among them, asking them questions are all good things.

   Have fun!

Workshops?

Hello Mr. Jensen,

If possible, in one of your podcasts, I would like to hear your thoughts on attending workshops. To be precise, I have to say that I'm a beginner who at age 35 would like to start learning photography. To enhance my understanding of issues such as light, portraiture, and printing, I am constantly looking at different sites to see if there are intensive learning opportunities I can attend. How effective do you see these workshops and how should I sift through so many workshops advertised online?

Thanks,

Sincerely,

Reza

   

I'm a fan of workshops! In my experience as both an attendee and as a workshop leader, there is nothing quite like the intensity of full immersion in a workshop environment. In everyday life, our photography and creative pursuits fit in with the rest of our daily obligations — work, house chores, family and spouses, paying the bills. But, in a workshop we can focus entirely on photography along with all our fellow participants. There is a density about it that is both exhilarating and exhausting.

Having said that, there are things you should know to make your workshop experience as useful and productive as possible. I've written about this in an article from an early issue of LensWork called How to Make a Workshop Work. I've formatted this for use in my own workshops and it's downloadable here as a PDF. In short . . .

• The instructor makes or breaks a workshop. Make sure you choose wisely.
• Your fellow participants are a great resource. Make connections.
• Don't go to make photographs. Go to learn.
• Be a sponge. Absorb everything. Sort it out later.
• Use a recorder, but ask permission first.

There are hundreds of photography workshops offered every year. Choosing can be daunting, so some Internet research is important. In my opinion, the most critical aspect of choosing the right workshop (beyond the considerations of the qualifications and teaching expertise of the instructor) is finding the right match for your needs and skill level. In your email, you qualified yourself as a beginner. A workshop on, for example, advanced view camera techniques would be a waste of time, obviously. So would "Introduction to Family Snapshots." Use your email to ask questions of the instructor or workshop sponsor. Get their lesson plan. (If they don't have one, pass. A good workshop instructor will always have an outline of the topics for discussion.)