Sharing a page or two

Ever stepped away from the platform after having just presented to a group and thought, "I was really into the topic and so was my audience. Yet, I was all over the place." It happens. The passion many presenters have to get it all out there when sharing what they know leads them to forget to focus.

I was recently in the audience of a presenter who did just that. When checking in with her after her presentation about how she felt about the experience, she said, "You know how a child, so excited to share news, will just blurt it all out there incoherently? That's how I felt."


In our haste, sometimes we presenters will determine what our topic is, what all we might say. We have our resources and our ideas and simply rely on the moment to give us our inspiration. That's when we lose our way - and the audience, though perhaps inspired by our energy and thrill of the topic, wonders where we are going.

We presenters can do ourselves and our audiences a favor by planning our direction. We know our topic - we simply need to share a page or two of the focus. Our goal is to select the topic, the chapter, the pages, the paragraphs and be clear about the direction. With that focus we have a plan, we can prepare and we can practice. That gives us and our audience clarity on what points they can take away.

My friend walked away from her experience ready to give many future presentations based on which "pages" she selects from her material. So can you.