■ Write each main message on a separate postcard.
■ List the points you want to make against each main message.
■ Illustrate the points with facts, evidence, examples and intro-
duce local colour.
■ Arrange the cards in different sequences to help you to
decide on the best way to achieve impact and a logical flow
of ideas.
Then turn to the opening of your talk. Your objectives should be
to create attention, arouse interest and inspire confidence. Give
your audience a trailer to what you are going to say. Underline
the objective of your presentation – what theywill get out of it.
Finally, think about how you are going to close your talk. First
and last impressions are very important. End on a high note.
Think carefully about length, reinforcement and continuity.
Never talk for more than 40 minutes at a time. Twenty or thirty
minutes is better. Very few speakers can keep people’s attention
for long. An audience is usually very interested to begin with
(unless you make a mess of your opening), but interest declines
steadily until people realize that you are approaching the end.
Then they perk up. Hence the importance of your conclusion.
To keep their attention throughout, give interim summaries
which reinforce what you are saying and, above all, hammer
home your key points at intervals throughout your talk.
Continuity is equally important. You should build your argu-
ment progressively until you come to a positive and over-
whelming conclusion. Provide signposts, interim summaries and
bridging sections which lead your audience naturally from one
point to the next.
- Prepare your notes
Your notes will be based on what you have already prepared. If
you are giving a talk without the use of PowerPoint you can
record your notes (the main messages and the supporting bullet
points) on postcards so that they can easily be referred to in your
presentation. It is often a good idea to write out your opening
and closing remarks in full and then learn them by heart so that
you can begin and end confidently. Clearly, they both have to be
succinct.
If you are using PowerPoint (most people do), the text on the
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