Preparing the talk

Having established exactly what is required, you can then begin the task of preparing your presentation. The best method is to find a large table or desk and clear it of any clutter. Clutter causes calamities!

Take a pad of ‘Post-it’ notes (small sheets of note paper with a not-too-sticky glue patch on the rear side) and begin brainstorming - one idea per sheet.

As an example: perhaps you have been asked to give a talk with the title, ‘How New Improved Widgets Can Power-up Your Profits!’ You already have the title - next you need to think about the aim or objective of the presentation. The client has perhaps stated he wants delegates to leave the conference having acquired two or three key ideas that they can put into practice back in their place of work.

Write the title on a ‘Post-it' and stick it in the middle of the table or desk. Note key ideas on another three notes. You can now start your brainstorming session. Anything connected to your title should be written in brief note form on a ‘Post-it’ and positioned around the title. As you continue the title gets surrounded by other words or phrases describing the object of your talk and its attributes. In this case, it might be New - Improved - Quality - Price Advantage.

During this brainstorming don’t disturb the free flow of your ideas by focusing too much on a particular thought or idea. Just write brief notes, and stick them on your work surface. Getting into an analysis at this stage of whether or not a particular sub-topic should be included stifles the flow of good ideas. By all means try to place your notes next to related ideas so they form groups that represent a particular theme. By the end of your brainstorming session you should have a table covered in ‘Post-its’.

Time to cull

Assuming you have made some order of your ‘Post-it’ ideas, you must then begin culling them. I use the word culling because it can be hard to do away with ideas that you have nurtured. To watch some people perform this phase of the development of a talk you would think they were being asked to sacrifice living creatures! Of course, all you are doing is some objective editing. Get rid of anything that is not central to the objectives of your talk. It has to be done otherwise, all that you achieve will be a talk that clouds important points with an overload of information.

Worse still, you are likely to overrun your allocated time - much to the annoyance of your client, the chairperson for the day, and especially the next speaker, who will have to cut short their presentation because of your inconsideration.

At the same conferences the chairperson will discretely indicate to the speaker how much time is left with a show of fingers. If you overrun your allocated time four fingers drawn across the throat means you are unlikely to be invited to speak at the next conference!

Take an objective look at your notes. Consider the information carefully. If the content is not totally relevant, then remove the note. Discard material that you are not totally comfortable with. Check the agreed title. Does the information remaining on the table lie comfortably in the topic? Are you meeting the aims and objectives of your talk?

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