There's a well-known quote that’s often attributed to Abraham Lincoln:

"Give me eight hours to chop down a tree, and I'll spend the first six sharpening the axe."

The message is clear - the most important part of the job is preparation. And it’s no different when it comes to a presentation or public speaking opportunity.

Spending the time to prepare properly in advance will immediately give you a huge advantage when it’s time to speak. You’ll feel confident and composed because you’ll know you can communicate what you need to say clearly, concisely and so that your message will be remembered.

So what’s the best way to prepare for a speech, presentation or any other opportunity you have to get your point across?

This article will give you a brief overview of the tried and tested preparation steps that I suggest to my clients to help them banish any nerves and speak up with confidence.

#1 - Analyse your audience

This is the one step in your preparations that you absolutely must not skip. Audience analysis can be a very detailed process, but let’s start by taking a brief overview with the question:

"Who will be listening to what I have to say?" 

The answer to that will determine every other element of your speech or presentation:

• The type of language that you use

• The examples that you reference

• The level of detail that’s required

If it’s a general audience, you’ll keep your content at a very high level, without going into lots of detail. Whereas if it's a technical subject and a technical audience, then you have free rein to use all the industry jargon you want because you're speaking to people who speak your language.

So ask yourself these three questions about your audience:

1. What do they know?

2. What do they need to know?

3. How will you bridge that gap?

If you’d like a more detailed framework to guide your audience analysis, then download my Audience Analysis checklist here.

#2 - Consider your message

What’s the message you want to convey? This sounds obvious, but it’s a piece that’s often overlooked. You need to get specific about this. Instead of thinking in broad terms of, "I'm just going to talk to them about…” or “I'll just tell them about…," flip your perspective to that of your listener. What will they take away from your speech or presentation? Will it be just a general outline of the topic, or is there a core message or lesson they can draw from it?

Let’s say you’re a financial advisor giving a presentation on pensions. You might decide:

“At the end of my presentation, the audience will understand the three reasons why it’s essential to start your retirement planning early.”

This gives you a clear starting point to plan your talk and helps keep your content relevant and on topic.

#3 - Add a clear structure

Being clear on point number. 2 above will help with this element of your presentation. How can you structure your message so your audience gets the most value from it? For example, if you’re talking about how your business was established, where you are now and your plans for the future, you might decide to tell the story in chronological order from then to now. Or maybe you’ll flip that timeline around and make your future plans the starting point. In that case, you’ll backtrack from there to explain how you got to where you are today.

If your topic has a number of easily identifiable main points, you can use those as the structure to build your presentation around.  The number three is often used for this type of framework because it’s the smallest number that creates a pattern. (Our brains like patterns.)

If you start off telling your audience you’re going to share three main points on your chosen topic with them today:

• They can relax because they know where this is going.

• You can relax because you’ve got a very clear structure to follow.

There’s no single “right” format for your presentation or speech. The crucial thing is to make sure you’ve got some kind of structure in place, whichever one you choose.

#4 - Gather the evidence 

The next thing to consider is how you will back up the different points you want to make when you speak. What evidence can you use to help the audience relate to and remember the message? This is where adding storytelling to your speaking and presentations is particularly effective. Stories help make your topic memorable, relatable and “sticky” - long after your audience has left the room.

For more on using storytelling to boost the impact of your presentations, you might like to read:

How Client Storytelling Can Take the Fear Out of Your 60-Second Pitch

The 3 R's of Storytelling: Use Them Wisely for a Powerful Presentation

Business Storytelling: How to Use Story to Make Your Messaging Stick

#5 - Tell your audience what to do next 

Finally, don’t forget to include a clear call to action at the end of your speech or presentation. What do you want the audience to do next - to know, to think, to feel? Do you want them to:

• Check out your website

• Sign a petition

• Agree to the proposal you’re putting forward

Whatever it is, make sure you’re very clear on that before you start planning the content for your presentation. And most definitely before you start working on any accompanying slides.

Careful planning will boost your speaking confidence

Running through these 5 steps every time you have a public speaking or presentation opportunity will give you the best chance to be set up for success on the day. Planning your content like this forces you to think carefully about how to share the most valuable information possible for your audience and deliver it so that your message will resonate and inspire your listeners to take the action you’re looking for. 

This article is the first in a 3-part series to help you deliver more polished and powerful presentations. Read the other instalments here:

Part 2 - 4 Key Things to Focus on When Practising Your Presentation or Speech

Part 3 - How to Get the Feedback You Need to Boost Your Speaking Confidence

Would you like to find out how I can help you prepare your next presentation?

Contact me today to schedule a no-obligation 15-minute discovery call.