When you prep a presentation, what do you do?
Most people go straight to PowerPoint.
They see what slides they already have, that they can re-use.
Or they type Speaker Notes on new slides.
Neither’s great.
The first means you’re ‘making do’. The second means your audience will watch you reading.
Instead, I prep like this:
- IMPACT – I start by thinking what impact I want to cause. So not “What am I going to say?” Instead, it’s “What do I want them to DO after I’ve said it?” Once I know this, I’ll create a more focused, shorter, better presentation
- TEACH – I then think “What can I TEACH them about this subject?“ Teaching new stuff means giving new value. I love it when someone says “I’d never thought of it like that”
- QUESTIONS – I then prepare questions I’ll ask to engage them, learn their views, trigger a discussion, get them thinking, etc. The better my questions, the better their buy-in
- STRUCTURE – I write all my main ideas on a piece of paper, numbering the order I’ll say them
And finally, I might – might – create slides. But only if they’ll help my audience.
Action Point
For your next presentation, use some/all of these techniques. It’ll make things better and shorter.