Aug 21 2007
What Do I Want To Say?
My good friend Andrea Nierenberg is currently in China, working with some of the biggest names in Chinese industry and she very kindly sent me a short message to show off her recently acquired language skills.
喂喬納森, 它怎麼去? 我真正地盼望銷售領導區域發射! 獲得許多樂趣這裡和非常學會。 快 Andrea
Of course, I responded immediately:
英國人、愛爾蘭人和蘇格蘭男子進入酒吧並且愛爾蘭人說……..
But you have probably already heard the one about the Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman so I won’t bore you 
Today is a “Remarkable Day” it is the day on which, after months of build up, a really excellent new book is launched by a leadership guru and an incredible guy, my good buddy - Kevin Eikenberry: You can find full details by clicking on the image but if you would like to receive a signed copy, all you have to do is translate the message I received from Andrea - I have two copies available.
OK, today’s post deals with the message you want to convey when making a presentation:
This is the stage at which you can decide your headings and sub-headings and put them into a logical order. Your structure then begins to take shape. Essentially you go back to the notes you made during the ‘ideas’ stage and select which ones you wish to use - and then put them in the right order.
Remember you probably will not have time to tell your audience all you know about your subject – after all this is not an ‘information dump’ Use only what is relevant and what can be dealt with in the time at your disposal – this may involve a ruthless reduction exercise.
It is suggested that if possible leave the speech, once written, for 24 hours. Then re-read and revise, removing any jargon or unnecessarily flowery phases or faulty reasoning.
The actual notes that you speak from can be the final draft of the speech but this will normally cause you to read most or all of the presentation and the audience will find this dull.
It is much better, therefore, to read the final draft and put it to one side. Then, without referring to it, write short, key-word notes or, if you are very experienced, headings only, on to numbered post-cards.(Numbering your cards will prove to be an invaluable exercise in the unlikely event you drop them half way through your presentation!)
You can now re-look at the final draft to check that you have included all the major ideas on the cards, but be careful, the chances are that if you forgot that idea when making out the cards, you will forget it when you make the presentation.
And Finally -Final Notes: Unless you are a very good actor with a phenomenal memory, do not dispense with notes by memorising a speech ‘parrot-fashion’. Unless your audience are ornithologists, they do not want to listen to a parrot! Also, it is easy to lose your way when giving a memorised presentation and easier still to lose an audience.
Tomorrow, my guest is award winning author Alvin Day