5T's to consider for your next Talk

I'm blessed to be able to present in multiple forums. I do technical demos, present to executives, speak at events and serve on the preaching team for a multi-ethnic church. I am far from being an authority on public speaking but want to share a few simple things I hope you find helpful preparing for your next talk.

Your Tech - Give yourself plenty of time (ideally at least 1 hour) to get connected. Travel with your own cables / dongles. I highly recommend HDMI, VGA and DVI. One of them will work. Memorize the "hot-keys" to turn presentations on and off. Play around with the screen resolution. Some parts of the presentation will work better if you leverage the projector or tv as a second screen. Others will work better if you mirror the display. Think about whether you'll be able to see the eyes of folks in the audience when you present to make sure they're tracking with you. My preference is to present from a high table or lectern because I like to stand. It lets you project better and see faces around the room more. I also like to walk around during talks so I travel with a presentation clicker. I want to be able to drive slides while I'm interacting with folks. Always remember that technology can fail even when you're doing technical talks. Don't underestimate the amount of time it will take to connect to wifi in a different venue. Firewalls may block sites or ports you need for the demo. Do a rough dry run of all presentation transitions. Are the slides clear? Will the text be readable? Will you need to zoom in or out during key parts of the presentation for clarity?

Your Talk - I'm one of the presenters that tends to use fewer slides. I rarely hear people say "I really needed to see all 50+ slides of that presentation." Remember that slide-heavy presentations are like a 3-hour movie. If you have that much content, it better be really good and super-compelling. It's not about how much "stuff" you can cram into a talk but what the audience is able to retain. Realize content creation is a great skill but content editing is even more important. Know what to leave out or send people via email after the event is done. Think about what you want people to do, feel or understand when the talk is done. They should understand some aspect of the topic better when you end vs. when you started. It always helps if you can do research about the folks who will be in the room. Are you talking to practitioners, analysts, executive decision makers or a mixed audience?

Your Touch - This may be a bit controversial but I believe people should inject part of their personality into their presentations. Great presentations usually sit at the intersection of subject-matter expertise and creative communication. Personalize the content to make it yours. This will also help you if things go haywire (remember tech can fail). You'll be able to get back to your pocket or wheelhouse more quickly if your personality is part of your talk. A powerpoint deck can capture what you know but a talk or presentation should also incorporate who you are. I use analogies a lot when I speak. It's very common for me to talk about cartoons, food, parenting and real estate when I give Cloud Computing 101 and strategy talks. Find what works for you. Remember that any analogies or illustrations must help people understand the concept better. A lot of being an effective speaker is about finding your own voice. What are you good at? What would people say your specialty is? What are you both knowledgable and passionate about? Keep in mind that personalizing is not a license to ramble. Be creative not careless. Remember the last point about editing. Less is more. If your talk was a cooking show, the audience appreciates seeing one dish from start to finish and being able to taste it vs. seeing 10 different dishes they'll never experience. Part of being able to execute your personalized touch well is not changing too much. I highly recommend that you don't cook a brand new dish in a brand new kitchen. New dishes in kitchens you know or familiar dishes in kitchens you don't should generally be the rule. And so it is with talks. New talk or new audience / forum but not both at the same time. It can succeed but the risk and degree of difficulty is much higher. Giving talks in new forums based on content you've shared at least partially before helps you focus more on things like body language and nuances. Your brain has moved from "how can I make sure I give this talk well" to "how can I help them receive this content well".

Your Time - Timing is one of the most difficult things for speakers to master. You are looking at or thinking about the clock with every slide, mouse click or question from the audience. This may also be controversial but I believe it is critical for a speaker to not lose control of the room. Sometimes you have to diplomatically direct a person in the audience to take something offline or follow up with you separately. Some questions are too specific to be helpful to the rest of the room or so deep that others will drown in the detail. Do not let someone derail your talk because they have a separate agenda. It's better to ask those one or two people if you can follow up later vs. wasting the rest of the room's time because you fell in a rabbit hole. Think about whether you intend to take questions and when (throughout the talk or at the end only). If you are willing to take questions during the talk - keep the big picture in mind. Don't spend so much time on a "side-dish" question that you neglect to finish the meal. I typically follow this breakdown for a 60 minute timeslot: 1) 5-10 minute buffer (folks will get there late or you may have transition time from a prior speaker in the same venu). 2) 5 minutes of ice-breaker and slides to setup a demo. 3) 25-30 minutes of show & tell. 4) 10 min of Q&A 5) 5-10 minutes to "land the plane". Don't just drop the mic. Let folks know what they should do or consider in light of what you just shared. Put a fine point on what you're asking of them. Everyone should leave the room with clear next steps on how to learn more, engage your firm or try this on their own.

Your Tape - Most talks these days are recorded. Take time to listen and watch yourself. See what worked well and what you can improve on for next time. Remember that there are times when you did your best but that wasn't your best. Part of how we move from best effort to best execution is review and reflection. Take time to review "the tape". Critique yourself. Get feedback from folks in the room and from more experienced speakers.

Remember that you will always be nervous before a speaking engagement. That means you're taking it seriously. Folks are giving you their time and undivided attention. You should feel the weight and responsibility of not wasting their time. Do your best and tune it up for next time.

Finally, remember this:

Be excellent no matter the size of your platform. If folks are giving you their time, you owe them your best. The best way to be successful when everyone knows your name is to start being faithful when no one knows your name. Folks won't remember down the road how many people were in the room during that talk / sermon / presentation. They will remember whether you "mailed it in" or brought your A-game.

About the author

Bobby Allen serves as Cloud Therapist at?Google?and as Stewardship Pastor for?Wellspring Church. He brings the unique perspective of being a thought-leader in Cloud Computing while helping lead a Gospel-centered, multi-ethnic church in Charlotte, NC. He is available to speak to your organization or at your next event about how to move from information to clarity to insight.