Where’s your talk going? Map it with this 2×2 grid [Video]

In this 3-minute video by Kelly Decker, you’ll see a quick way to form an extremely high-level view of your talk or presentation:

And read below for tips to fix the problem that Kelly describes.

Kelly’s the president of Decker Communications, whose content I’ve featured before. (Years ago I shared a post of theirs about pausing when you present, and last year I published a video from them about speaking on a panel.)

I love the way Kelly’s “roadmap” makes you think of your talk in 2 dimensions:

1. High to low emotional connection
2. Self-centred to audience-centred

(This is not to be confused with a roadmap on your slides, which just lets people know which section of your talk you’re in.)

Kelly’s metaphor comparing speakers to drivers brings home the nature of the problem. That is – if we’re like most presenters – when we get up to speak, we’re almost literally aimless:

“We just sort of get in the
car and we start driving.

We’re unaware of the kind of
experience that we actually create.”
Kelly Decker (at 0:21)

So next time you plan a presentation or other speech, think of the 2×2 grid that Kelly presented. Map out where you want your talk to land in terms of emotional connection and content (self-centred to audience-centred).

And what about how to move your talk towards the top-right quadrant? Try these concrete techniques to move your presentation up and to the right (respectively):

1. Add emotional elements – 5 tips
2. Give an audience-centred talk – 4 tips

 

Over to you

Do you think this roadmap (or the tips I shared) could make your talks more effective?

I’d love to hear your views in the comments (or through Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn if you prefer).

Advertisement