TALKTIPS DAY 06: Organize into an Outline
Once I’ve done #talktips 1–5 (Who I’m talking to, What I’m talking about, How long I should be talking) I begin breaking all my thoughts and notes into an outline. Since, to date, most of my talks have had accompanying slides, I create my outline in a Keynote deck. I used to use Adobe Illustrator’s artboards to make my slides, switched to Keynote about two years ago, it allows me to move things around a lot more easily. It’s extra handy if the conference organizers have provided projector/screen specifications early on so I can start at the correct size. When in doubt I go with good ol’ 4:3 aspect ratio.
My slides almost always contain only one word. From there I use the “notes” area to write out the meat of my thoughts around that one-word prompt. If I absolutely must have more than one word on a slide, I’ll do it, but I mostly try to avoid more words on slides.
Bonus:
While I’ve put some thought at this point into the aesthetic of the slide (minimally, background color and font choice), I don’t spend much time on the visual aspects until I’ve got a pretty tightly flowing talk happening. I’ve spent far too many hours working on making/searching for art for slides that end up dropped, now I save this part for later.
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All tips written for my #talktips are written in 5 minutes or less. If you have more questions or would like more info about any of my #tinytips, leave a comment!
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Jaimee Newberry is a professional experimenter, speaker and writer who lives, learns and fumbles out loud. She’s the founder of tinychallenges.com and co-host of the tinychallenges podcast. She’s also the independent mother of two girls and two cats, and girlfriend of a beautiful, shy man who likes to remain mostly anonymous. More at jaimeejaimee.com
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