How to Plan a Presentation (in one hour or less)
Which type of “presenter” are you?
There are two types of “presenter” when it comes to pitching, speaking (with slides), doing a keynote, chairing a panel or being a live ‘guest’….
1 – The Plannerina
2 – The Wing – it – Wonder.
I am probably a wing-it-wonder!
Which one are you?
In my experience (and I’ve clocked up around 8000 examples from city clients over the years) you usually fit into one of these camps.
When I was producing live shows at the BBC I used to think of Boris Johnson (then Mayor of London) as the pin up Wing-It-Wonder and the former British Prime Minister Theresa May (solid, stable and secure) as the archetypal Plannerina.
The truth is, you do need to PLAN whatever your type.
However, don’t panic. You don’t necessarily need to prepare for months on end! If you really have an hour of time to work on your presentation – you can get the main shape of it done within 60 minutes if you know the drill.
By the way, you can read about plannerinas and wing-it-wonders in my blog about pitching types here…
Click here for the full blog… to hear about plannerinas and wing-it-wonders
Do you know how to plan efficiently?
Clients often ask me…
“Can you OVER prepare for a presentation? It takes me hours…days..months….and my fee paying time is too precious to fritter away!”
One very senior tax lawyer admitted to me the other day that she doesn’t EVER speak at conferences because it takes soooooo long to do the prep, write the script, learn the script, craft the slides and practice her performance (plannerina style). She hasn’t got the capacity to go through with it.
She always says NO! When it comes to speaking at a podium and standing in the spotlight.
However, although she is saving time on the one hand – to give her more fee paying hours, she’s missing out on sharing her expertise, being more visible, being seen as a thought leader on the other hand. She could be missing out on meeting hundreds of new contacts and winning new business for future fee paying clients.
I told her
“You don’t have to panic, plan, learn, script, practice and HATE the process of prepping for a presentation. You can do it in far less time…you just need to speak more regularly”
She looked at me in horror.
In my experience, you need not spend more than 30 mins on prep if you speak very regularly. Putting in little and often bursts of energy and time pays dividends.
I have some super easy quick-fix strategies you can adopt so you can spend more time on yourself, your job and your family, and less time on prepping, scripting and worrying about your mind going blank during your presentation.
Quick 5-Step Prep Tips
Here are my quick fix 5 step prep tips you can use to get the bulk of your presentation planned, packaged and poised…in less than an hour (you will need to fill in a few gaps and practice later, but you’ll feel 100% more confident knowing it’s more or less done and dusted)
TIP 1
Stop – clear your head – do nothing for a moment. Get yourself a cup of tea (optional) and have a white board, a big blank page and a nice big colourful pen nearby!
TIP 2
Ask Questions – the 5 Ws. Who, where, why, what, when…
Who is it for? A very quick audience overview
Where are you doing it? Which country, venue, what’s the culture/atmosphere like? Will it be hot, cold, rainy, echoey, difficult to hear?
Why? Simply , why are you doing it, what’s the point? What’s the message likely to be?
What do you want the outcome to be? I.E., what do you want the audience to take away? What would you like them to walk away feeling, or thinking? What’s the CTA – Call to action?
When are you doing it? Morning, noon or night. Will your audience be tired, hungry, grumpy or ready to dash to the bar? Be mindful of time of day – rule of thumb – if it’s the last item of the day or before lunch – finish 5 mins early! At least.
If you can’t answer all these questions easily – you have 2 choices.
Either cancel it or go ahead and guess. Fake it ‘til you make it. You can fill in the gaps later.
TIP 3
Find or imagine your AA - Audience Avatar - do a rough audience audit. It may take some guess work. And ask yourself these questions ….
Who’s likely to be in the audience? Choose your avatar and answer for them. Tip – name your avatar and bring it to life for example “Jacob” - mid 30s, French, alpha type, busy, likes sport, new ways to work with data and very ambitious!
What’s his mindset? What does he care about? Can you answer Jacob’s WIIFM – What’s in it for me?
This might take up to 45 mins – however, once you KNOW why you’re there and what your audience’s needs are – you can plan super-fast.
Sit in Jacob’s shoes for a moment, imagine you are sitting in the audience and say OUT LOUD – what you think might be going through Jacob’s head….
E.g., “I hope this is going to be short, helpful & I need to hear something new”
TIP 4
Brainstorm to create your content starting with the message. Respond to Jacob’s needs …quick, new and helpful!
Then think of stories/ stats / details / examples you could share. My advice, choose content and stories that you OWN!
Check this little video out to help you brainstorm your content…
You Don’t Have to be “A Creative” to Create Great Content
Sometimes the best thing to do is start from scratch and let your mind flow with ideas in no particular order.
Take a look at this video tip and have a go at brainstorming without the filters.
Click on the flipchart to play this useful and super quick video tip…
To brainstorm – all you need is a flipchart!
Then arrange the content in a simple order – beginning – middle – end.
TIP 5
Top and tail with impact!
Make sure you have a top line – a hook. In response to Jacob’s needs you might start with something like this…
“Here’s a really useful new shortcut to help you finish project GX.”
Tell your stories or share stats & info – but keep them short, to the point, punchy and entertaining.
And make sure you finish on a high – a CTA – call to action or a big ask. What next?
Even if you haven’t got your script perfectly finished, you are almost there. Even if you have NO slides, you know where you are going and what you are doing more or less.
Now it’s easy to fill in the gaps.
I’d suggest a rough running order with items – rather than a full script at first.
However, if you feel you need a full verbatim script, say it out loud first. You could record yourself and use voice notes to write it in full. Then edit it.
One of the biggest mistakes my wonderful pitching clients make is they like to write the script FIRST, then try and learn the WRITTEN words.
A written document is very very different from an easy to SAY script.
At the BBC we’d call the scripts, a “cue”. This was usually the intro to a news item or a guest. It was always very easy to get your mouth around, short, sweet and to the point. Big ‘clever’ words’ can be tricky to say.
My advice. Make your script a ‘transcript’. I.E You say it first, then write it down last!
Make sure you use short sentences and words that are easy, not the sentence (this is a real example) I heard the other day…
“we collaborate with exceptionally talented and sophisticated partners, who’s accreditations include sociologically proved knowledge based on…..etc etc”
I’d suggest something more like…
“We work with some the world’s best experts”
The more you speak the easier it gets.
Find out what speaker type you are!
Here’s a bit of fun….find out what your speaker type is in my fun She-Boss Quiz…
Take the She-Boss-speaker-type-challenge – and get your very own video feedback….
Click here to find out if you’re a Plannerina, a Wing-it-Wendy or Bold Babs
Until next time, stop, breathe, don’t sweat it. You’ve got this.
Eyes and teeth
Esther x