Three Things To Check Your Presentation Or Speech For
3 Ways To Audit Your Speech (Or Presentation)
Credit: Christina@wocintechchat.com
So you've been invited to speak at an industry event. Congrats! Maybe you're even the keynote speaker. Or you need to do a business presentation to key stakeholders. Here are three things people often forget to check for:
1. Does it, uh...make sense?
If you've been reading my blog or newsletter for a while, you already know I'm a BIG fan of practicing. As in: no, your presentation will most likely not be good if you just 'mentally go over' the whole thing, or simply 'know what you're talking about'. Doing it OUT LOUD is key. And the added benefit (other than helping you not be awkward or full of 'ummmmm...' is that you get to HEAR what it sounds like. So many of my clients realize whole sentences don't make sense, only after they've written the whole damn thing.
Tip: read it out loud, just as you would to an audience - preferably paragraph/page by paragraph/page.
2. Are you making your points clear?
This is extra-important if your audience isn't peers. If you're too theoretical, they'll struggle following you. If you're a professional marketer and addressing newbie freelancers...you can't keep talking on a conceptual level, about 'calls to action', 'client avatars', and 'positioning'. To them that's just word salad (I should know, I've been that freelancer...🤣)!
^ See what I did there? I gave you a concrete example. Make sure you have concrete examples or stories for the concepts you mention.
3. Are you confusing quantity for quality?
When I work with clients, they almost always have to shave off a chunk of their speech/presentation. Because they end up either repeating themselves, or adding random details and veering off track. More isn't more - always bear in mind that the goal is for the audience to understand your message. Not to learn everything there is about the topic, or about you! So check your presentation for unnecessary deets and chuck them.
If you struggle with that, take it sentence by sentence and ask yourself 'what am I expecting by saying this?'. If you can't find a good reason (eg. 'I expect the audience to understand my concept by giving this example'), you can probably chuck it.