Tips for talks: content and delivery

Developing content

Your sangha audience is made up of people with a variety of needs and experience levels.  Some are first time visitors and some have been around for years.  Some need specific, concrete examples while others need to see the patterns and connections between ideas.  If you simply say what you want to say in the way you want to say it, you may reach some of your listeners but leave others confused or unfulfilled.  Your challenge is to remain authentic, find and develop your own voice as a dharma teacher, and still connect with all of the individuals in front of you.  

Remember, your karmic conditions have provided you with a collection of skills, interests and abilities all your own.  You bring something unique and meaningful to the dharma simply by virtue of your own life and practice, and that’s what listeners need from you.  Don’t try to be your teacher or anyone else but yourself.  Even if it was possible, we’d be missing out on what you as an individual have to offer.

First talk in the series
  • Introduce yourself and your theme.
  • Explain why this theme is meaningful to you in your practice.
  • Tell us about the journey we’ll be going on with you during the coming weeks: the plan for the series, major subtopics, collateral activities to be offered.
  • Give us the tools to get stared: basic teachings about your topic, words/people/events we need to know, key messages that will recur throughout the series
  • Preview your conclusions about what we’ll get from the series: what we’ll learn or understand, practices we can take away, new insights for our daily lives.

Subsequent talks
Expand on your theme by presenting various aspects of your topic, for example:
  • historical/cultural development
  • relationship to other similar or dissimilar elements/teachings/topics
  • key questions about the topic (you need not have all the answers)
  • relevant writings by various ancestors, teachers and practitioners
  • relationships to our practice, or how we can practice with this topic
  • context within the Buddhist/Zen/Soto tradition
  • how your topic may be reflected in current/world events
  • Last talk: draw conclusions, review key ideas, tell us how to continue investigating on our own
Hoko's four corners of sangha practice
​
Where to look for material and inspiration
Worksheets for planning talk series and individual talks
​Delivering your talk

Think of your talk as a conversation with the sangha—you’re throwing out some interesting stuff for practitioners to consider and then discuss during the Q&A.  That means you need to be relaxed, speak naturally and authentically, gesture as you would when chatting with a friend, and make eye contact with people in all parts of the room.  This is a friendly audience.  Listeners want you to succed.

Don’t write out your talk word for word.  You’ll end up reading it to your audience members rather than having a dialogue with them.  This is a conversation, not a lecture.  Make some notes, write out important phrases if necessary and quotes you plan to include, but in general simply jot down enough words to jog your memory about what to say next.

Record yourself practicing your talk and play it back.  Notice things you like about your performance and things that bother you.  If necessary, add reminders to the top of your notes pages: “Watch out for ums and ahs.”  “Sit still.”  “Speak slowly.”  When the talk is posted to YouTube, watch it and decide what you'll change next time.
 
Eliminate visual barriers between yourself and the sangha as much as possible in order to establish and maintain a connection while you’re speaking.  Don’t hide behind a podium or computer.

Speak clearly and enunciate.  Project well enough to be sure you can be heard at the back of the zendo.  Speak slowly enough to be understood and quickly enough to keep people engaged.

Display some warmth, energy and enthusiasm.  If you’re interested in your topic, listeners will be too. Enjoy your time with the sangha.

It’s not necessary to be overly humble or self-deprecating.  You were not asked to serve as shuso in order to do you a personal honor.  It’s simply your turn.  Just step into the role, take your seat, and talk about the dharma.