Four Things I Learned About Preparing Talks
Photo by Alexandre Pellaes on Unsplash.
Dear reader, do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
I like to say I’m an introvert that trained himself to walk among the extroverts. So if you told a younger me that I’d eventually spend a significant amount of time doing public speaking, the younger me would have scoffed. And then left to find a place to be by himself and recharge.
Lots of time has passed and it turns out I do a lot of talks. Here are four things I learned about preparing for talks, in no particular order.
Script Your Stories
I used to wonder how great speakers deliver stories to a packed room like they were talking to just one person. What worked for me ended up being something pretty simple: get the story down on paper and deliver it as many times as I could.
When you write talks, script your stories. After you’ve practiced the stories enough times, you’ll be able to do it like you’re sharing it with a friend over coffee. And that’s when it starts to feel authentic.
Start With the Outline, Not With the Slides
I don’t know what it is about starting with slides that’s so comforting. Maybe it’s because we think of slides as a talk’s final product. Or maybe it’s because we use slides as a safety net if we stumble during the talk.
But here’s something I learned after writing and delivering a lot of talks: they tend to come off better when the slides serve the story, not my desire to have a safety net.
Instead of drafting slides first, try starting with your talk’s outline. If you know the story you want to tell, all its major parts, how you’ll sequence them for impact, and how you’ll hold the audience’s hand through each transition, the slides will follow naturally.
When writing slide notes, do as the teleprompter writers do: keep paragraphs to three sentences, use a big typeface, and test by reading it out loud.
Use a Consistent Structure
So if slides aren’t your safety net, what is? For me, my safety net is a consistent structure. When I deliver my main points the same way, I have a routine to fall back on. And more importantly, I make it easier for the audience to listen by building a sense of familiarity with the format.
For each of my main points of your talk, use the same structure. Here’s a structure I use often: Tell a story, explain the concept, share an example, and prompt the audience to reflect.
Make Your Notes Work For You
And finally, the notes. I used to script my whole talk out in the notes. Now, I spend just as much time refining my notes as I do refining my stories. When I’m in the middle of my talk, 90 percent of my energy is going towards delivery and managing my nervousness. That leaves only 10 percent to process notes. If I look at my laptop and see an unclear block of text, I freak. On the other hand, if I see thoughtfully written phrases, I’m calmly reminded of where I am in my story.
When writing slide notes, do as the teleprompter writers do: keep paragraphs to three sentences, use a big typeface, and test by reading it out loud.
Everyone prepares for talks differently. I hope you found something here that inspires you to bring more structure to your process. Good luck in your public speaking and let me know how it goes.
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