9 Ideas To Improve Your Next Talk

Everybody who communicates wants to do it better. There are all kinds of things you can do when you give a presentation to be better. Your delivery can improve. But there are also things you can do before you present that will help you get better. Now I want to admit right up front that I’ve made all of these mistakes, and I hate to tell you, from time to time, I still make them. But I’m in this thing with you, we’re all just trying to get better. So here’s a handful of things you can do in your prep to help you give better presentations.

1. Writer’s Block

Everyone who’s written anything has experienced it. Writer’s Block when writing your presentation is 95% the result of a lack of preparation and 5% lack of caffeine. Step #1 in prep is not sitting down to write the talk, it’s study. If you do #1 right, all the other steps will be much easier. Don’t believe that there’s just not much to say about the topic. On anything you want to talk about, volumes have been written. Read widely and study deeply, that will usually result in you having too much to say..

2. The Scrap Heap

The floor should be littered with the pages of material that didn’t make the cut. If you’re not cutting, you’re inevitably saying things that could be left for another day. Like a bonus feature of deleted scenes at the end of a movie, sometimes even good stuff gets cut to focus attention on the best material. Don’t feel like you have to say everything you know on a subject when you speak. You’ll overload your audience.

3. Biting Off More Than Your Audience Can Chew

Rarely do I see a young speaker choose a narrow topic to speak on. Usually they choose massive subjects. That can work, but rarely. When in doubt, use more narrow topics, not because we don’t like big ideas, but because presentations, like your dinner, is digested most easily when consumed in manageable portion sizes. Remember, your audience hasn’t been immersed in the subject like you have, so they’ll need more time to swallow it. Trying to cover too much ground won’t give them time to understand it.

4. Speak Their Language…Literally

I’ve done my time in formal research and study. Just having a Ph.D means I know my fair share of technical jargon in my field. When giving a presentation, I could revert back to the language of complication and specialty since I’m comfortable with using it in academic research, but usually my audience isn’t as comfortable with that language. So use technical jargon in presentations sparingly, in moderation, like no more than you really have to. My rule is, if I can’t explain the technical stuff’s importance clearly in 15 seconds or less, I don’t use it.

5. Points, Points and More Points

Simply said, the fewer the better. Now you don’t always have to use one point only (although if you can do it, you probably should), but don’t get carried away with too many either. Remember, the presentation is like a meal. Serve up too much and people can’t eat it all. Example: If you’re ever tempted to give one talk on “10 Things Threatening Our Industry” or “8 Things Managers Need to Know and Do” or “12 Security Safeguards to Implement,” don’t do it.

6. Positive, Not Negative

Don’t accuse me of just teaching the power of positive thinking here, but if what you have to say is adding value, it should come across that way to your audience. In your prep, keep a close eye on the tone of your message. Is it tearing down or building up? Are you using lots of negative words like “never,” “can’t,” “don’t,” “won’t” etc? One tip that can change your talks from prep to delivery is, try to make your title and all of your points positive. Instead of a point called “Say No to Hackers,” think about phrasing it “Say Yes to Better Security.” Instead of “Don’t Waste Your Money,” say “Be a Good Manager of Your Money.” That simple change can totally alter the tone and communicates the truth while also reinforcing the fact that what you’re saying is good news to them.

7. Question and Answer

In many cases, the success of any public communication is directly proportional to how many of the audience’s questions you’re able to anticipate and answer. Though you’ll never be able to answer all of someone’s questions on any given subject in one talk, you’ll make the audience really happy if they can leave with more answers than questions.

One of the greatest things you can do when communicating is surface difficult questions and then, when you answer them, you can almost hear the audience say “Ahhh.”

8. In Conclusion…

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made over the years, and seen others make as well, is failure to adequately prepare for the conclusion of the talk. Our tendency is to put all of our effort into the body of the talk and then write “conclusion” at the end of the manuscript, as if we plan to get to that point in the message and be supernaturally enlightened about how to end it. That supernatural enlightenment may come…or it may not. It’s better to thoroughly prepare for how we’ll end it and then be flexible to shift gears if the feeling in the room is leaning a certain way. Many a great presentation has fallen flat and illicit no response because the speaker hadn’t put thought into how to wrap it up. This usually results in a haphazard ending with no opportunity for a response, or an endless rambling caused by not knowing how to land the plane. Conclusions should be well-planned, manuscripted, thought through, powerful, vivid and most of all…conclusive.

9. Watch Your Words

When part of your livelihood is making presentations, speakers often underestimate the importance of their words. As a communicator, my words are my most valuable commodity. In order to say all that needs to be said in a given period of time, I have to choose the right ones. Great effort should be expended in presentation prep to choose the right words to express your idea. Why?

We tend to use weak words as a general rule, but there’s no reason to when so may powerful words are available to us. Try combing through your manuscript and replacing weak words with strong ones. Use words that stir emotions and paint word pictures. “Fury” instead of “anger.” “Thrilling” instead of “fun.” “Home” instead of “house.” Sometimes small wording changes can make a big difference. And that improved vocabulary could very well lead to an improved response from the audience.

Those are 9 quick things to think about in your preparation. I hope that as you prepare your next talk, thinking about one or two of these might help you tighten up your message and connect better with your audience.

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