We have spent time in our Speaking with Confidence series focused on the physical skills of delivering a business presentation or public speech. However, before you can start practicing those skills, you need to determine your talking points and develop your presentation. Spending time carefully working through this will reap rewards when you finally give your presentation.
How To Determine Your Main Message
Once you have chosen your topic, you need to determine your outline. How do you typically do this? One option is to decide you will ‘cover everything’ on that topic. Nooooooo! Why not? I have a veterinary colleague who puts this best. She reminds us that, ‘When you tell them everything, you tell them nothing!’ That’s right. Why? Because the human brain is not wired to remember long lists of facts.
What our brains can remember, is a single, main message, repeated a few times. Sounds easy, right? Sometimes it is surprisingly difficult to determine the main point you’d like to get across. Think about the one thing you want audience members to remember after they leave. Then try writing it down in a single sentence.
Let’s try an example. Imagine you are preparing a talk about management of cats with chronic kidney disease (CKD). There is quite a bit to cover on this topic, right? If I was invited to speak on this topic, I might develop my presentation around this main message: Cats with CKD should be fed a renal diet, based on the grade 1 evidence for that treatment modality. I would state this clearly near the beginning of the talk, and repeat it at least one to two more times. I might even preface it with, ‘The one thing I want you to remember after you leave, is…’ Be clear about your main message. Don’t make the audience guess what it is.
Try this as you develop your next presentation. What is the one thing you want audience members to remember, if they do not remember anything else? That is your main message. Write it out. Then state it clearly when you deliver your presentation. If you want your audience members to change their behavior, the first step is getting them to remember your main message. Go on; try it. You’ll be glad you did!
© 2018 Marcia R Harmelink, DVM
Rocking H Veterinary Consulting