Regularly, my colleagues and I are asked this kind of question: “Can you talk to my stakeholder about that project you’re working on?” Generally, we say “Sure!” After all, I know all about this topic - I can just roll in and talk for 15-20 minutes. Right?
This doesn’t usually land well with the listeners. I may know all about the topic, but just rambling on about it doesn’t help us accomplish any specific outcome. This is where planning ahead can go a long way towards being effective as well as interesting. My groundbreaking advice? Use a checklist. For every presentation you make.
Years ago, I read an extremely engaging and helpful book on presenting by Scott Berkun, Confessions of a Public Speaker (highly recommended). Here’s a condensed version of his preparation list:
Title: Your title should convey the main point of your talk. What do you want the listener to walk away with? Make it interesting.
Audience: Identify your intended audience so that you can tailor your talk appropriately.
Concise Points: List out your three main points. If you have too many, group and summarize them.
Counterarguments: What would an intelligent, expert audience member ask in response to your main points? Be prepared!
I know not everyone is a listmaker, but using simple checklists like this one can help anyone prepare for a talk. And using a checklist like this one means you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you need to create a deck. Would you use a list like this one? Which point is most often missed?
You can find this post on my blog at shaheenparks.com/blog
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