Entrepreneur: Elon Musk Is An Awful Speaker. But Keep Listening.

[firsttruck]

....
Drive too fast - suspicious
Drive too slow - suspicious

You forgot a couple

Drive exact same speed as everyone else - suspicious
Drive exact legal speed - suspicious

 

[HaulingAss]

as some1 who thinks similarly to Elon (imo), I prefer his to the point just get the data out way of speaking.

I was once being questioned by a "peace officer" and I, like elon, do those long pauses wehre i actually think about the question. apparently this is a no-no and makes 1 look suspicious.

If you are being questioned as a suspect for a crime you had nothing to do with, the best pause is the pause that never quits.

 

[HaulingAss]

One may be an engaging speaker, even when they have little to say.
Or, one may have plenty to say, but be a tepid communicator.

It is too much to ask for both?

You will find very few people who can deliver well on both counts. I'll take the one that has something worthwhile to say.

 

[CyberGus]

You will find very few people who can deliver well on both counts. I'll take the one that has something worthwhile to say.

Public speaking is a skill like any other. It can be improved with training and practice.

At least get an intern to clean up your PowerPoint slides lol

 

[Dusty]

Damn. People always get caught up in demanding a phony "presentation" while ignoring the message or discounting the speaker. It's sad. I'm a pretty good public speaker, but I'm well aware that not everyone is.

That aside, the MOST EGREGIOUS fact everyone seems to have ignored or forgotten is that Musk has autism. How he speaks and acts is a clear indicator of aspergers to the uninitiated. He first publicly announced it on SNL. My nephew describes the pauses and stutters as "...when thoughts constantly try to bump the thing you're currently saying out of the way, so it can be spoken out loud instead."

Musk does it all the time mid-sentence, where he'll say "and" before completing his initial response. When he says "and" reflexively is the moment the other thought tries to butt in. Then he stops to reorganize the thought and continues. Or, he just gets hit with a flood of thoughts that he then has to corral, organize, and eventually say.

 

[HaulingAss]

Public speaking is a skill like any other. It can be improved with training and practice.

At least get an intern to clean up your PowerPoint slides lol

I've noticed a clear improvement in Elon's communication skills in the last year. In any case, I can understand him just fine and don't expect him to excel in all areas.

 

[Cyberman]

Elon Musk Is An Awful Speaker. But Keep Listening.
Making a good presentation is not about theatrics. It's about content.
By Gene Marks December 30, 2021

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Love him or not, respect him or not, there's little argument that Elon Musk is not a genius. But with all of his enormous talents, and his remarkable intelligence, there's one thing that he doesn't do very well. He's not a very good public speaker.

Don't believe me? Then take 12 minutes out of your life and watch this YouTube video of Musk's 2015 presentation to a climate change conference in Paris. As a professional speaker myself, I found his presentation style to be pretty awful.

Musk breaks almost every presentation rule and violates almost every platform skill. He mumbles and he stutters. He doesn't engage his audience. He brings very little humor, energy or liveliness to his presentation. He stands still throughout most of his speech. His slides are small, boring and too dense. He doesn't leverage technologies like video and graphics to enhance his points. Musk sometimes loses his train of thought and then returns to it. He seems at times as if he's only speaking to himself and not to a roomful of people. He appears to look more at his monitors than the audience. He puts his hands in his pockets.

Professional speakers — like me — don't do this.

We're trained to give a show. A happening. A performance. An experience. We strut around the stage, gesticulating, pantomiming, waving and acting. We use words like "Boom!" "Pow! "Yes!" and "Nailed it!" The great speakers I know don't even use PowerPoint slides because they tell stories, weave tales and share lessons with humor and personal insights. And if they do lean on technology it's not with boring charts and graphs like Musk uses, but funny videos, striking images and pithy quotes from iconic historical figures. They jump and dance and sweat and yell and bring dynamism to an event. They make their audiences shout responses, embrace each other and walk over hot coals.

Musk doesn't do that. So by comparison to the pros, he's a pretty awful speaker. And yet I couldn't stop watching his speech. In fact, I’ve watched it a few times. Why is that? Am I climate change advocate? An environmentalist? An oil industry supporter? Is it because I'm an Elon Musk fanboy? Well, OK, a little.
The reason why his presentation was so compelling had nothing to do with his presentation skills. It was because of him. And his content.

I wanted to hear what Elon Musk had to say about this issue because I’m interested in him. I think he's extremely smart, and his point of view interests me. I know he does his research. I know that when he talks about a topic near and dear to his heart (and his business, which is selling electric vehicles) he's going to have something relevant to say. And I want to hear that, regardless of whether he's talking from behind a podium or sitting on the back of a horse.

And his content didn't disappoint. Musk broke down an enormous issue (climate change) into a simple, 12-minute explanation along with how he would go about solving it (a carbon tax). It doesn't matter whether you agree with him or not. What matters is that he was able to deliver his message succinctly. No hot coals. No sweat. No jumping, screaming or yelling. Too many speakers focus on these theatrics. Not enough pay attention to their message. They know they’ve got little new to say. So they cover up their lack of content with bells and whistles.

Of course, a minimum level of communication skills is important when speaking to a group. But in the end, it’s not about the speaker at all. It’s about the content. That's what people came to hear. If the information you're going to provide to an audience is really important for them, then they'll listen to you regardless of how bad a speaker you are. Elon Musk is a pretty awful speaker. But I listened.

Perhaps by your professional standards he's an awful speaker, I like his direct approach with no bullshit, bells or whistles. I'd rather he be good at what he does, more than how he says it.

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Looks like Elon Musk will have to be the Time Magazine person for a second time in the row in 2022.