When I first started standing up in front of a group to talk it was on secondary school teaching practice in an area where there was 40% unemployment due to the recent closure of the local steel works.
As a raw student teacher, I needed all the help that I could get just to survive. Going into those classes with a tightly defined plan with a clear aim, learning outcomes, timetable for activities gave you a fighting chance of survival, as opposed to a slim chance of surviving the fight. Without such, you were lost before you started.
The first time I presented to a professional audience, as part of a job interview, the sense of relief that the worse that would happen was that they would politely nod off was palpable, and in sharp contrast to the anxieties of my other interviewees, On the other hand, perhaps if more audiences threw things at the speakers when they were bored, then such presenters might be tempted to sharpen up their act.
I don’t think that presentation graphics packages have helped us at all in this respect. They encourage speakers to sit down in front of their computers and think “what do I want to say today?” and start typing. There is a clear temptation to rush to type, before you have thought things through.
On the other hand, if you first plan your talk, you can use the answers to the questions above to help you refine your talk. If you know how long it’s meant to be, then you make an informed judgement about how much material you need. If you know who your audience is then you can start to make informed decisions about how much prior knowledge you may assume.
At the end of this chapter, you will find a template to help you plan your talk. Make some notes below to help.