In Part I–Want to deliver an outstanding presentation?, I wrote about creating multiple openings and conclusions in order to ensure those two aspects of the speech are your very best.
Here in Part II, I will share information on an alternative way to compose your content, as suggested to me by Rogen Communications, Inc. Over a decade ago, I had the opportunity to take presentation and sales training classes with Rogen. Even now, I still find myself sometimes reflecting on some of their techniques.
My recollection is that for presentation preparation, Rogen suggested several paths towards organizing one’s thoughts—depending upon objectives of the presentation (persuasive; informative; ceremonial; etc). But the format that stuck with me the most was their basic ‘presentation planning sheet’. Here’s how it went:
Step Zero:
Write your audience analysis.
Identify your specific objectives.
Step I: Subject/thesis (one sentence).
Step II: Conclusion (one sentence).
Step III: Agenda (key topics….Steve Jobs and others like to stick with three at most).
Step IV: Body (list points to support each of those key topics in Step III)
Step V: Summary points for each of those key topics identified in Steps III and expanded upon in Step IV.
And the last two….as I noted in Part I, these are of utmost importance to focus upon (but it’s good to wait until you have the rest finished before really honing in).
Step VI. Opening comments (this is very important as noted in Part I of this blog post. Just because it does not come up until Step VI does not mean it’s not essential to gain immediate credibility, interest, and momentum for the remainder of the speech.)
Step VII. Creative element. This is woven in with the opening comments. It might be a short story, an integration of clever (not corny) humor, a metaphor…the options are endless once you get your creative juices flowing. {A good topic for a future blog post!}
Since we AEC professionals are visual beings, you might find it helpful to build a rough box diagram first. From top to bottom of your page, it would look like this (forgive me for not providing a visual):
Step VI
Step VII
Step I
Step III (at least three boxes across)
Step IV (same number of boxes as Step V, but bigger)
Step V
Step II
When you are next staring at a blank page while trying to craft a presentation (or even an article, for that matter!) give this format/order a try. I’ll look forward to hearing how it works for you.