Like writing, speaking teaches you. I have given many hundreds of presentations and lectures on plastic surgery from audiences as small as one to hundreds of people. In every single instance, the person who learned the most from each experience was me.
One side of learning in speaking is in the actual preparation. I have always said that for every minute of speaking time, it takes anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes of preparation time and, in many cases, much more. (provided it is not an impromptu speech) You must distill your thoughts into a followeable sequence and put it into writing or, in most cases today, a powerpoint presentation.
But speaking also does something that even writing can not do, and it often happens right on stage. And all speakers have experienced it. That moment during your presentation or question and answer session when you make that statement or answer that you have never heard before. Many times it is quite insightful and it seems to come out of nowhere. And it certainly wasn’t rehearsed. It is the result of thinking about your topic in depth, rehearsing it, and in a few rare moments a single drop of distillate knowledge makes its way to the spoken word. And it only would have come because you prepared to give a talk!
Dr Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana