TJ Walker says most presenters start wrong by gathering facts first. Instead, begin with a single goal: one sentence of 10 words or less describing what you want the audience to do. Write yours before you do anything else.
Chapters
So I hope you're now feeling more comfortable with how you look when you're presenting. But as I mentioned, that's just the first step on our journey. We're trying to communicate here. What is communication? It's not just words coming out of your mouth. Someone else has to receive those words, they have to hear those words, they have to understand those words, and they have to remember them before there's even a chance of them acting. So let's start off with the basics. What is square one? You've got to give a presentation at work next week, a talk, a briefing, perhaps a keynote to your industry. Or maybe you're just talking to your boss about what you've done in the last month. What's the starting point? For most people, the starting point is sort of running around gathering facts, gathering data, getting a wheelbarrow and trying to assimilate as many facts and data points as possible and doing that, working hard, staying out late, typing bullet points on PowerPoint timeout. That is not your starting point when it comes to any presentation, talk, briefing you're giving. And by the way, throughout this course, I'm going to use terms like speech, presentation, talk, briefing interchangeably. I really just mean anytime you're talking to someone and it's not just about the sports or entertainment or shooting the breeze, you're trying to convey something important to you and possibly influence them. So it's not enough to just give out stuff. You've got to actually have an impact. That's why it's critically important that your first step is to know what your own goal is. What is it you want to have happen? So what I want you to do before any speech, before any presentation you ever give, is to ask yourself, what is it I want my audience to do? Be able to sum that up in one sentence. Do you want them to hire you? Do you want them to endorse you? Do you want them to approve a budget? Do you want their vote for the next election? That is your starting point. Sometimes it can be general, like, I just don't want to be fired. I want my boss to think I'm working hard. Still, what is the one thing you want your boss to be thinking about as the reason for why you shouldn't be fired? So I need you to have that clarity, because once you nail that down, it makes everything else you do in the speech preparation infinitely easier, more efficient, more streamlined. Remember, the people you're speaking to do not have to know everything you know about your job or what you do. If they did, they'd have your job already. So very rarely is it your job when you're giving a presentation to tell people everything you know about everything you've done. So here's the homework assignment right now, again, one sentence. I'm not asking you to write 5,000 words for me, and I'm not asking you to put it in a video yet. I want you just to write down one sentence, 10 words or less. What is the one thing you want your audience to do after you've given your presentation? And if you don't have any upcoming presentations, just pick something you can relate to that you theoretically could. If you are in business and you raise money from investors, think about just one pitch to an investor. If you're a school student and you have a summer job teaching people canoeing, think about how you want people to do that one thing, whether it's the J stroke or not, stand up and fall over. Think about what is it that you want your audience to do. So I want you to write that down in the discussion section right now and that'll give you real clarity. It'll help so much. You know, if you want to go on vacation, it's nice to know you are want to end up in Paris or in Orlando or in Tokyo. You don't want to just get in a car and drive with your whole family. Typically, if you're planning on a nice week vacation, you need a destination. That's what we have to nail down right now. Please do that before advancing to the next lecture.
