10 tips for better presentations

Be a better public speaker

Based on a set of tweets I sent Karlyn Borysenko.

1. Talks are stories. Start, middle, end. Make sure it has all three.
   A presentation is about presenting, not reading slides. You are telling the audience a story, regardless of whether it’s a persuasive pitch for giving to charity or a summation of last quarter’s sales data.
2. Outline. Build your framework.
   I always start with an outline — something on which I can hang the story I’m going to tell. I will use post-its to write down snippets of ideas and to flesh out the framework, help determine which points I want to make and which ones are loose and flimsy.
3. More pictures, fewer words.
   Use pictures to frame your anecdotes, so people can tie the picture to your story. This helps with memory retention for visual people, and it helps keep auditory people focused on your voice, not the slide. Don’t give them slides full of text; they can’t read it and they won’t listen while they’re trying to read it.
4. Practice. Practice. Practice. And time yourself.
   This is the thing you must take away. Run through it at least three times. Ideally, five or more. Time yourself. Are some points taking longer? Are you being extraneous when you should be succinct? Is there a throwaway point you should expand on (or just throw away)? You don’t have to memorize your talk. You just have to know it enough that you memorize the rhythm.
5. Kill darlings.
   Use the practice to tune the talk. What can you cut out of your talk? More than you think. That line you think is really funny? No one gets it. Has to go.
6. Figure out how your memory works. Then hack it to get the talk in.
   I will write my talk longhand — but at the lectern I never look at the notes, even though I bring them with me. This is because I have a strongly visual memory. I can see the pages in my head. They remind me where I am in the talk order. Figure out how your memory works and hack it.
7. Treat your audience with respect.
   Dress respectfully — like the audience expects you to look. Be mindful of time. Say thank you.
8. Do not ever, ever start your talk with more than a one slide bio.
   The talk is your bona fides, not your resume. If at all possible, let the person introducing you handle your bio. Focus on your points.
9. Humor. Not too much. But enough to disarm.
   Use anecdotes to engage. Relate to your audience to generate empathy.
10. Finally: So long as you prepared and you respect the audience, you can always walk off the dais knowing you did your best.
    When I spoke at HighEdWeb 2010, I spent days writing, re-writing, practicing, and most of all, fretting. Right before I went on stage, I told myself: “In 45 minutes, it’ll be over. If you flop, so what. You did your best. You can fly home and never see these people again. Your talk may be forgotten, but you cannot blame yourself.” 45 minutes later, I was trending on Twitter. 24 hours later, I walked out with the Best Of Conference award. 3 years later, it was still getting referred to in other HighEdWeb talks. But I prepared. And I practiced. And I gave myself forgiveness if it failed.

In the end, it’s not the beautiful slides or the succinct points you make. It’s whether you can tell your story in a way your audience understands, and whether they respond to the story you tell.