9 Public Speaking Lessons You Didn’t Learn in School | Bathroom Break #71 🚽

Summary

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The Marketing Millennials: “9 Public Speaking Lessons You Didn’t Learn in School”

Bathroom Break #71 🚽 | September 1, 2025
Host: Daniel Murray
Guest: Jay Schwedelson

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Episode Overview

In this quick-hit “Bathroom Break” episode, Daniel Murray and guest Jay Schwedelson (bestselling author, marketing speaker, and host of “Do This, Not That”) swap actionable, candid, and sometimes hilarious insights on public speaking for marketers. Fresh off the heels of prepping for the massive Inbound conference, they unpack the must-dos and critical don’ts they wish someone had taught them before stepping on stage (or even entering the conference room or Zoom call). This episode is a goldmine for marketers aiming to connect, educate, and leave audiences wanting more—whether you’re on a giant stage or leading a meeting of five.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Practicing Your Talk: Real World vs. Ideal World

• Daniel’s Approach: Always do a full practice run the morning of your talk—not the night before. “Once you have that mental block that you completed that day, I feel it’s much easier to get on stage.” (02:17)
• Jay’s Addition: Practice in real-world conditions—background noise, distractions—since actual live environments (from boardrooms to conference stages) are never perfectly quiet.
  • Quote: “When you ultimately do speak...it’s not going to be a perfect setup. People are going to be on their phones, there’s going to be noise. So you want to have an environment that’s a little more similar to reality.” (02:54)

2. Ditch Full Memorization—Embrace Word Cues

• Daniel: Avoid memorizing scripts—use word cues on slides or notes. This prevents panic if you forget a line and allows for a natural, conversational flow.
  • Quote: “You’re probably going to say a different speech 20 different times. But if you at least practice and have some word cues, it helps you have a flow, helps you not get stuck.” (03:39)
• Jay: Memorization wrecks both the delivery (makes it robotic) and your confidence if you get tripped up. Relatability and presence matter more.

3. Never Start With a Boring List

• Jay’s Cardinal Sin: The classic “Here are the 7 things I’ll cover” slide puts the audience to sleep and signals boredom ahead.
  • Quote: “Don’t show them the list of the crap that you’re going to say because that is when you lose everybody.” (04:53)

4. Less is More – Condense Down Your Tips

• Daniel: Err on the side of fewer talking points. You’ll always have less time than you think, and rushing at the end wrecks impact.
  • Quote: “It’s better to finish early...always try to concise your talk into smaller chunks.” (06:03)
• Jay: Relates, half-jokingly, about his 101-slide session: “It’s going to be like I’m going to be on 12 Celsius.” (06:51)

5. Cater to the Least Informed Person in the Room

• Jay: Spell out every acronym and concept—never assume prior knowledge. It’s about inclusion, not dumbing down.
  • Quote: “You make people feel stupid even though they’re not stupid. Never make somebody feel stupid in the audience. You want everyone to feel as comfortable as they can.” (07:23)
• Daniel: Applies the same principle in marketing copy—always clarify terms to maximize understanding.
  • Quote: “The way to become an expert is to teach it simply...even if it says like call to action like CTA, I always have to say call to action CTA.” (08:06)

6. Pre-talk Rituals—Managing Nerves

• Jay: Connects with at least one audience member before starting; humanizes the talk and eases nerves.
  • Quote: “The second that you can humanize whoever it is that you’re about to speak to, it puts you at ease...This is not that complicated.” (09:43)
• Daniel: Humorously confesses to pre-talk anxiety: “I try to not have a panic attack...I’m like, this close to being like, I’m out before I get on stage.” (09:07)
• Jay: Reassures, “Everybody is nervous. If they say they’re not, they are full of it.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Once you have that mental block that you completed it that day, I feel it’s much easier to get on stage.”
  — Daniel Murray (02:17)

• “Practice it with the TV on, with people in the room...because when you do actually speak, it’s never a perfect setup.”
  — Jay Schwedelson (02:54)

• “Don’t tell people it’s going to be boring. Don’t show them the list of the crap that you’re going to say.”
  — Jay Schwedelson (04:53)

• “The way to become an expert is to teach it simply.”
  — Daniel Murray (08:06)

• “Everybody is nervous. If they say they’re not, they are full of it.”
  — Jay Schwedelson (09:43)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:35 – Daniel and Jay discuss Jay’s new book and the weirdness of imposter syndrome
• 01:45 – What not to do when prepping a public speaking gig
• 02:17 – Daniel’s day-of practice method
• 02:54 – Jay’s advice on realistic practice environments
• 03:39 – Avoid memorization, use cues instead
• 04:53 – Why boring lists kill your talk
• 06:03 – Pare down your material for pacing
• 06:51 – Jay’s 101-slide slide deck dilemma
• 07:23 – How to avoid making people feel stupid (explain acronyms, clarify terms)
• 08:06 – Daniel’s take on simplifying communication
• 09:07 – Handling nerves before you speak
• 09:43 – Connecting with your audience, humanizing the moment

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Final Takeaway

This episode is a pragmatic, fast-paced masterclass in public speaking for marketers, blending no-BS honesty, empathy, and actionable hacks. Daniel and Jay’s chemistry and humor make the lessons stick—whether you’re sweating bullets pre-presentation or just trying to make your next meeting less miserable. If you want a no-fluff guide to being more effective and less nervous as a marketing speaker, this “Bathroom Break” is worth every minute.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes you either have to listen to marking tips or use the bathroom. Or both. But I don't recommend both. But that's your choice.

[B]

This collab is going to be super fun. We have Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials and me, Jay Schwedelson from the do this, not that podcast and subjectline.com each episode in the series we are going to go over quick tips about different marketing topics and if you want to be in the bathroom, fine, just don't tell us about it. Thanks for checking it out.

[A]

We are back with another episode of the Marketing Millennials podcast and today I'm here with best selling author Jay Schwedelson. He just recently wrote a book. He also just recently got shouted out by the CEO of HubSpot for being a great inbound speaker. Because we could speak about speaking today, but how does it feel to have a best selling book? That's just achievement.

[B]

I will tell you, the book is called Stupider People have done it. It's up for pre sale. All proceeds, all net proceeds are going to charity, the V Foundation for Cancer Research. That's really the only reason I'm doing it. I don't think I've ever had more imposter syndrome or felt more uncomfortable about doing something in my life than doing this book because I'm borderline illiterate and I don't even know. So we'll see how it goes. But what about you? Would you ever write a book?

[A]

I thought about it, but I again a little bit like you. So it's probably will take me years to write a book. The thing about Jay, you should know is that if he has an idea, he just like does it. And like if it would have. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it does it. So like he's like, I'm going to write a book. Okay, let me just write a book and just let me do a hundred other things as well as write a book.

[B]

So yeah, it's a horrendous idea. I'm not, I'm not going to lie. This was, I, this was more than I anticipated. But whatever, it's an experience. Screw it. So let's talk about public speaking. So both of us have sessions coming up at the Inbound conference, this giant 12,000 person event that HubSpot puts on. We both have sessions. So we're going to rattle off some public speaking. Must dos, never dos how we approach a session. So Daniel, you got your session Coming up. What do you do? How do you approach a session? How do you make it not suck?

[A]

I always practice my speech the day off. So I know I've already completed that the speech on the day. So I'm not nervous to do it the first time that day. So I'll run through it the morning of. So it's kind of a mental walkthrough. So I know, hey, my speech has already been completed this day. Instead of doing the night before, I always run through it a good dry run before I go on stage. So that's something I think more and more people should do is once you have that mental block that you completed that day, I feel it's much easier to get on stage.

[B]

Yeah. I'll tell you a couple things that I do and that I don't do. First off, if I'm going to practice my session, I always practice it with a lot of noise going on. People make the mistake. They'll practice it in a quiet room. Like I need to be quiet and practice my speech. It's ridiculous because when you do actually speak somewhere and again, this is not just for a big speech. It could be on a Zoom with five people. It could be in a conference room with 10 people. Everybody publicly speaks when you practice what you're going to say, you practice it with the TV on, you practice it with people in the room or whatever. Because when you ultimately do speak on that zoom or the conference room or a big speech somewhere, it's not going to be a perfect setup. People are going to be on their phones, they're going to be walking around, there's going to be noise. So you want to have an environment that's a little bit more similar to reality. What else do you think about?

[A]

I like that advice of the noise. I never thought but we used to actually in football, the week of a loud game, they used to like put on the speakers like loud music the whole time. And we use. And if it was a rainy day we a rainy game, they used to soak the footballs in water. So you. So you need to be as close to the conditions on the field like they say in. In sports as possible. Another thing I like to do is I don't like to memorize speeches. I like to have word cues in that is that I know that are built into the deck or on the notes just to say like hey, I need to hit these these points because memorizing I feel if you in a flow and then you forget something, there's nothing to go off Of. But at least if you have word cues, you can always go to that next word in your head and come up with something. Because if you practice enough, this something will come out. I. I don't believe you're probably going to say a different speech 20 different times. But if you at least practice and have some word cues, it helps you have a flow, help you not get stuck. If you get stuck in the middle.

[B]

Of a speech, oh, my God. I. I couldn't agree with that more. I think memorize. The problem with memorizing a speech is two parts. You as the speaker, and again, it could be for a small group. It doesn't matter. You as the speaker, screw yourself up, because if you miss a word or sentence, you're like, oh, wait a minute, where am I? And that. That's a horrendous situation. There's nothing more boring than watching somebody or listening to somebody that has memorized something say it. They're not invested in it. They're just trying to get through it. Speaking of boring, I'll tell you the one thing that I will never do that most people do when they're doing a presentation at their company or whatever. Their first slide or two has a list. These are the seven things I'm going to take you through. Okay? They put that slide up and instantly when you're there on that zoom in the conference room or whatever, you as an attendee, as a listener, like, oh, God, this is going to be terrible. Can we just get to number seven? We have to get through all of these horrendous. You're telling people it's going to be boring. It's going to suck. I know people tell you to tell them what you're going to say, and then you say it again. And whatever that stupid saying is, don't do that. Stop being boring out of the gate. Don't show them the list of the crap that you're going to say, because that is when you lose everybody.

[A]

I also think for me, it's. Speeches go faster than you think. So what I like to do is concise the amount of tips I'm going to give just because you only have enough time and you think it's going to go shorter. So if you have like 15 tips, try to get it down to 10 to eight tips and just go for the. The best eight tips. Because you're going to get on stage and the worst thing to do on stage is having to rush to the end of the day. So it's better to finish early. I believe in a speech than late in a speech. So always try to concise your talk a little bit into smaller chunks because even if you're in smaller chunks, I guarantee you'll probably get close to that time on stage.

[B]

Dude, I needed that advice a few weeks ago before I submitted my deck for inbound because I'm doing an email tip session. It's a 45 minute session. I have 101 slides. I mean it is so it is going to be like I'm going to be on like 12 Celsius or Celsi or whatever the hell you say. It is not going to be a good situation at all. The other thing I'll tell you one last tip from me is cater to the lowest common denominator in your audience. I am never shocked because now it's happened to me so many times. I'll talk or I'll be on a zoom or in a conference room, whatever and I'll have slides up and I'll say something like and this is you know for DTC marketers or this is for abm. Right. And I won't actually say what the acronym is. And then invariably people will come and be afterwards. What's dtc? I totally missed that. Whatever. And you make people feel stupid even though they're not stupid. Not everybody knows. I don't know all the acronyms. I have no idea what they mean. Never make somebody feel stupid in the audience. You want everyone to feel as comfortable as they can. So if you say oh dtc, oh that's direct to consumer marketing. Abm, that's account based marketing. Say what it is that you're saying. Cater to the person who might not know because if not there's nothing. That's a bigger turnoff.

[A]

Yeah, that's actually something hard for a lot of people. I think you try to go on stage and try to act like an expert in something but the way to become an expert is like teach it simply. And then you learn this in social and all marketing. Try to get to simplify the talk to as much as possible. I think that's a big mistake. I always think about is even in like newsletters and stuff like that. I always say like even if it says like call to action like cta, I always have to say call to action CTA. So people know that at least they understanding this because they'll get lost in. So that's a really good point is spell things out because people don't know.

[B]

So all right now it's just on a human level now you're getting ready to do a session. Do you, like, talk to people? Like, like, the 10 minutes before you give a talk, right? It's always so awkward. Like, everyone's sitting there in the audience. You're kind of there. What's your move? Do you just stand there on stage like a big goober? Or do you go into the audience and talk to people and try to connect with people? Like, what do you do?

[A]

I tried to not have a panic attack. So I'm like. I'm, like, trying to breathe, like, center myself. Like, I swear, the times I've been on stage, I'm, like, this close to being, like, I'm out before I get on stage. So Jay's a completely different. I see Jay before he goes on stage. He's, like, double fisting two Celsiuses, like, hyped up, talking to 18 people, gets on stage, and literally me, I'm, like, sweating profusely before I'm getting on stage. So it's two different types of people out there.

[B]

That's amazing. You know what I always try to do, and I think this is good to do again in a zoom, A conference room, a big speech, doesn't matter, whatever. I try to connect with at least one human being. Like, have a normal conversation. Oh, where are you you from? Oh, I'm from Nashville. Oh, my God. I was at this restaurant, blah, blah, blah. Because the second that you can humanize whoever it is that you're about to speak to, it puts you at ease. Like, oh, they're people. They want me to do a good job. I want to do a good job. This is not that complicated. And by the way, everybody gets nervous if you think, oh, I'm not a good public speaker. I get nervous. Don't label yourself that way. Everybody is nervous if they say they're not. They are full of it. So don't ever label yourself. That you can't publicly speak. That stinks. But, you know, it doesn't stink. This podcast doesn't stink. Even though it's called Bathroom Break and Bathroom Stink. I don't know what I'm talking about. This has been an incredible episode, as usual. Listen, everybody, go subscribe to Daniel's show. And by the way, if you mention this show and you tag us on Instagram, heMarketing, millennials, and Schwedelson, we will put you on our story, which is very exciting. So we appreciate you and thanks for being here.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Daniel. Come on, man. I gotta get back to work. Get out of there. All right, While he's still in there. This is Jay. Check out my podcast, do this, not that, for Marketers. Each week we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try. Oh, here's Daniel. He's finally out.

[A]

Back from my bathroom break. This is Daniel. Go follow the Mark in My Life podcast, but also tune into this series. It's once a week, the Bathroom Break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out. And it could be anything from email, subject line to any marketing tips in the world. We'll talk about it. Just give us a shout on LinkedIn and tell us what you want to hear. Peace out.

[B]

Later.