Clarify, Then Re-Clarify Your Presentation Objective!

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Clarify, Then Re-Clarify Your Presentation Objective!

Take a moment a write down in a brief note precisely the point of your speech.

Now review what you wrote above and condense it into one single sentence that must fit on just two lines.

This exercise re-enforces precisely what your presentation will be about. It seems an obvious point, yet too often the person making a presentation doesn't always seem to have clarified exactly what it is they are trying to say.

This is fatal!

A confused presentation, or even one which rambles or tries to encompass too many aspects, will usually fail.

You need to be able to summate your presentation in just one brief sentence.

Even after many years of making speeches and presentations. I never consider myself ready, until I can write the point of my speech down in that two line sentence above.

Too often I'm reminded of this quote (adjusted by me, original word in brackets) made by the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) who said:

"I have made this presentation (letter) longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

Please don't let your audience suffer in this way! Understand your objective and cut your presentation to meet that target.

Blogged on 3:41 AM

|

~~~