The Accordion Method
by Tristan de Montebello • Co-Creator at Ultraspeaking
Tristan is the co-creator of Ultraspeaking and the fastest competitor in history to reach the finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. He specializes in helping professionals overcome speaking anxiety and develop executive presence through gamified learning.
🎙️ Episode Context
In this episode, Tristan de Montebello deconstructs public speaking from a performance art into a trainable meta-skill. He introduces a gamified approach to mastering communication under pressure, focusing on 'turbulence training' to build resilience. The conversation covers actionable tactics for speech preparation, eliminating filler words through presence, and the psychology of 'staying in character' to project confidence.
Problem It Solves
Solves the problem of rigid memorization, where forgetting one line causes a breakdown, and prevents the robotic delivery associated with reading scripts.
Framework Overview
A preparation technique that involves iterating through a speech with varying time constraints to distill the core message and then expand upon it. Instead of writing a script, you speak the content to internalize the structure.
🧠 Framework Structure
Compress: Start with a 3-minute timer...
Expand: Once the 30-second 'essence' ...
Internalize, Don't Memorize: By the e...
When to Use
Use when preparing for high-stakes presentations, All-Hands meetings, or pitches where you need to be authentic but structured.
Common Mistakes
Writing out the full speech before starting the speaking iterations; trying to memorize specific phrasing instead of key pillars.
Real World Example
Tristan advises using this for an upcoming All-Hands: take your main update, force yourself to say it in 30 seconds to find the 'headline,' then expand it back to 5 minutes for the actual meeting.
One should discover the words they are saying at the same time their audience is.
— Tristan de Montebello