If you are unsure whether your client would or would not prefer a particular topic be addressed in your presentation - check. Just one phone call could be the difference between you getting additional work with that particular client in the future, or no!

Creating order

It is now time to create some a degree of order from your ideas. Every conference speech should have the same structure. The rule is exactly the same whether you are writing a book, a song or a talk. All talks or presentations must have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Your presentation should flow naturally, like a river on its journey towards the sea. Giving the talk structure aids your delivery, and also improves audience comprehension and enjoyment.

The beginning

The beginning of a talk needs to achieve two things. Firstly, you have to establish audience attention. This can be as simple as introducing yourself, saying how honoured you are to address the meeting. Such pleasantries are familiar and allow the audience to settle down and get used to the sound of your voice. Do not be tempted to try anything dramatic, such as making sudden movements or a loud sound. This is a crude way of grabbing attention and will not win you any friends in the audience. Secondly, you need to spend a few minutes, no more, on something that does not require too much mental agility from your audience. Including a few words on the history of your topic creates interest, covers familiar ground, and allows your listeners to appreciate by contrast how significant current advances are.

By way of example - I once gave a talk on a medical theme, and began by reflecting how only 100 years had passed since depression was being treated by cutting holes into the head of the poor patient to reduce pressure, it was though at the time to allow the escape of undesirable elements and facilitate recovery.

If you had found that fact interesting so probably would your delegates. By developing interest early you start to whet the appetite of your audience and it allows the talk to smoothly flow into the present day.

One last thing about opening your talk - never apologise! It does not matter if you think you have something to apologise about, never do it. If you have arrived a little late, the lighting or microphone has failed, your visual aids are a little poor, or the break-time coffee was cold, leave it to the chairperson to make the apology. You need to start on a positive note and nothing should detract from that.

The middle

The main part of your talk - this is where you ensure that you present the core points. However, this section requires its own special kind of introduction. It even has its own name - the ‘gestalt’. This is a German word for which a rough translation in this context would be ‘overview’. The most common textbook definition of a gestalt is ‘a whole which is larger than the sum of its parts.’

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