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Submitted by SteveAnderson on
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BLUF: I'm looking for effective tools to provide reminders of my talking points during presentations.

For the past 15 months I've been working in a job (outreach specialist/stakeholder relationship manager/project manager) that requires a significant amount of public speaking.  This ranges from large conferences to three person executive staff briefings. 

Since starting I've been phasing in the M-T presentation best practices and I've managed to whittle the monstrous decks my communications team gives me down to about one slide every five minutes - and only that many because there are some slides I'm mandated to show less I incur the wrath of the comms manager.

This, however, has increased my need for rehearsal (which is good) but also for reminders of my talking points since I can't rely on the content of the decks to remind me anymore.  I've experimented with printing out the full deck in "handout" format for me to reference, typing out bullet points on letter size paper, and hand-writing index cards.  I've found advantages and disadvantages to all of these and I was wondering what methods others are using?

Mark's picture
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I like the way you've been approaching this, and I have had similar experiences.  To get enough detail, you have lots of notes.

MY solution for this kind of role is rehearsal and repetition.  Use of cards or notes depends on where you when you deliver... Sitting with three other people, you can have a sheet or two in front of you with key points, but not too many.

I practice until I'm sick of it.  This will sound weird, but ask anyone who has been to a conference - I'm good in front of an audience.  And it's not because I'm glib, it's because I rehearsed my ass off.

it's quite old-fashioned, but I always win, so I stick with it.

Mark

SteveAnderson's picture
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How did I know you'd say that?  In that case, I'd better figure out how to fit some extra rehearsal time in before these short-notice speaking engagements! 

--Steve

(DiSC 5435)

jhack's picture

I've seen Mark present, and it has not even a whiff of "rehearsed."  There's always something, a question from the audience, parenthetical remarks, etc, that create a natural flow.  

In my experience, rehearsing at some point crosses the "idea" barrier:   the core ideas and the structure of the presentation become so familiar that they can't be forgotten, and the focus moves to subtleties of wording, emphasis, intonation...  reaching that point is the foundation of the presentation.  

It sounds like you're giving the same presentation (more or less) over and over...would it be possible to set aside weekly rehearsal time, to keep you sharp?  

John Hack

SteveAnderson's picture
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I like the idea of weekly (or even semiweekly) rehearsals.  I can speak to the core concepts of the program in my sleep (and, according to my wife, I have) but what I've been dealing with is some of the audience-specific tweaks and that I'm also being sent out to give program updates, usually with a very short time between me being briefed and delivering my briefing.

On the "rehearsed" front, I'm not worried about looking rehearsed at all (and what's wrong with that, after all?).  I watched another presenter earlier this week who has the same function in a "sister-program."  We frequently present at the same conferences or deliver briefings in tandem.  (Actually, I usually try to schedule myself a few slots before him if I know he's presenting since I hate following what is always a very good presentation.)  I've seen his presentation probably five times and he's able to deliver it "blind" without looking at what's on the screen at all even though he's made significant changes to deck content and order in each iteration.  Clearly, he's spending time rehearsing though he never comes off as rehearsed.  

--Steve

(DiSC 5435)

aylim14's picture

 Since the question is about tools to elp you rememer presentation points, i suggest using keynote and keynote remote on your iPhone. Yes, it's sort of discriminating but if you already have it, why not make good use of it. I make my presentation in keynote. Open up the presenter notes, add BULLETS to help with reminders. Then save it. When you're about to present, bring up your iphone, use Keynote Remote ($1.99 if im not mistaken) then you can use it to control your presentation. Portrait view shows you the current slide and the presenter notes. Landscape view shows you current and next slide. 

That's one tool i use. And, as what Mark said, nothing beats a good old fashioned rehearse-until-you-drop process. 

aylim14's picture

 Since the question is about tools to elp you rememer presentation points, i suggest using keynote for mac and keynote remote on your iPhone. Yes, it's sort of discriminating but if you already have it, why not make good use of it. I make my presentation in keynote. Open up the presenter notes, add BULLETS to help with reminders. Then save it. When you're about to present, bring up your iphone, use Keynote Remote ($1.99 if im not mistaken) then you can use it to control your presentation. Portrait view shows you the current slide and the presenter notes. Landscape view shows you current and next slide. 

That's one tool i use. And, as what Mark said, nothing beats a good old fashioned rehearse-until-you-drop process.