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Writer's pictureAndrew Churchill

Start with a goal

Updated: Jul 16


Decide what impact you want to make.

If I asked "what is your presentation goal?" what would you say?

If you answer, "so people understand my research," you're in good company. That's the answer 90% of people say. The good news: it's wrong, so when you stop answering that way you'll now be better than 90% of presenters.



So what's the correct answer you ask?

You decide: what do you want your audience to do after your presentation?

Now we're getting somewhere. That's a good first step.

The second step is to now figure out if that's in your best interest or theirs?

Re-jig that goal until it's something that is of benefit to them.

Now you've got a great goal.



And now that you have a goal,

you can get on to developing the rest of your content requirements.


These have to do with memory, comprehension, and feelings.

  • The memory one should be short: 3 things maximum.

  • The comprehension is covered in greater detail in The 3 Cs exercise, but this version is simpler: keep it to no more than 3 things.

  • For the feeling one, this is a macro exercise. What feeling do you want to create that will then help propel them to action?




Here's a downloadable copy so you can have your whole strategy on a single page. (I tape mine to the corner of my whiteboard when I'm working on a new presentation.)




For those who want to see this in action, here's a video where I talk about the process with my own work. It includes a reflection on how when I first started I was seriously missing the mark, and what I've done to course correct in order to become more effective. In some ways, it is the genesis of this ecosystem, helping people feel like they can go from overwhelmed by the challenge of becoming effective presenters to feeling like a path exists and we can all support each other in that path.


NOTE: For a preview of "better feedback," pay attention to the Q&A session I recall here. This is an example of the kind of feedback we need to be seeking. For more on this, head to the "better feedback module" in the bonus hive.



LESSON RECAP:

1. Be goal oriented, and remember the goal needs to be of benefit to your audience. As presentation is a "present" for them. It's not about you, it's about giving something of value. Figure out what this is.

2. Then figure out what people need to understand and remember to make progress towards that goal.

3. Finally, figure out how you want to make them feel. As Maya Angelou said: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will always remember how you made them feel."



NEXT STEPS:

Goals is only half the process. The other 2 critical pieces for content development are your "less is more" where you'll develop your WAIAD statement and "The 3 Cs" where we explore the 3 critical things audiences need for you to be convincing. We combine those with an appreciation for curiosity, open information loops and story-telling and the magic of creating a clear, concise, compelling presentation is unlocked for you forever.







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