Taking things back to absolute basics, if we knew nothing about how presentations ‘should’ be, what might we be able to work out just from the fact they are spoken, not written?
Readers are in control
~ Readers are in control of the speed they are reading, and so the speed of the information they are receiving.
~ They are in control of how long they spend with your information.
~ Readers can re-read sections they didn’t quite get.
~ They can also skim bits they are not interested in.
~ Readers can even choose whether to read a document or not.
Listeners are much less in control.
They can’t control the speed of information, the amount of time they spend, they can’t re-listen nor skim, and they have to be in the room.
What does this mean in terms of your responsibilities as a speaker?
How can you make it so that there is benefit to delivering a spoken presentation rather than a written document?
What are the benefits of having the ‘owner’ of the information in the room?
What does this mean about structure? About tailoring your information (and the structure of your information?)
Some words that come to mind for me:
~ Pace
~ Signposts
~ Q&A
~ Relevance
Other articles you might be interested in:
- Why the first question you’re asking should be the last question
- How to explain complex topics with good metaphors
- Qualities of a good PowerPoint slide
- How to make your presentation relevant by focusing on outcomes
- How to invite people to follow your example in three minutes like Google webspam guy Matt Cutts