I created the above graphic to remind myself of how I used to prepare my speeches years ago when I was in Toastmasters International. It may seem strange to start by writing the conclusion, but that’s why the method is so powerful.
Mike’s comments about PowerPoint in last week’s post reminded me of this method. He started me thinking about the pros and cons of PowerPoint. I’m impressed by the power and intuitiveness of the program, and I think it’s a helpful way of organizing complicated technical information. See, for instance, this example. But, thank goodness, my talk a couple of weeks ago was not a technical one. 😉
If I were to prepare the speech again I would ignore the suggestion that the first or second slide should be an outline of the presentation and that we should follow the order of the outline for the rest of the talk:
That’s a fine left-brain approach, but if we’re trying to have an impact on the audience we need more than logic. I discovered the following suggestions when I was in Toastmasters and found them to be invaluable:
- What effect do I want to have on the audience? Am I giving a speech to inform, to persuade, to entertain, or to inspire?
- What main idea am I trying to convey? (This will be my conclusion.)
- What will I say first to get the audience’s attention and lead into my subject? In other words, how will I open my speech?
- What specifics or examples do I have to support my conclusion? What handouts, audiovisuals, anecdotes, jokes, etc. can I use to keep my audience’s attention as I move forward to my conclusion? Does everything in my speech relate to the purpose and main idea? Will I be able to keep the audience’s interest throughout the speech? Does my speech flow smoothly from one point to the next? Does it present the audience with a unified whole?
The trick was indeed to start by writing a strong conclusion.
Once we know the message we’re trying to convey, we can write a punchy introduction to get the attention of the audience and… this step is crucial… to include something that will echo in the conclusion. I’ve given many a speech where I did that and had no idea exactly what I would say in the middle. But I always had a wealth of possibilities and I had culled them in advance so they supported the purpose and main idea. The talks were short…usually only five to seven minutes…so it was easy enough to keep them unified. Not having them rigidly outlined in advance kept them fresh and spontaneous, and it helped me practice thinking on my feet in front of an audience. Again, the trick was to have the conclusion echo the opening so the speech had a solid feeling of completeness.
The speeches did take a long time to prepare, but that was all right. I always learned a lot by giving them.
So thanks, Mike, for reminding me to ditch the outline and instead begin with the end in mind.
Jean,
You are so welcome.
Even though I was an instructor, I had to continue all of the continuing training that the licensed operators had to attend, so I was exposed to the same “death by PowerPoint” presentations that they were.
It looks like I’ll be brushing up on my PowerPoint and other presentation skills in the near future. I talked to my old boss yesterday and it looks like management through the VP is on board to bring me back for a 6 month contract for the current initial license class. The only hurdle left, as I understand it, is to get the funding approved.
Mikes last blog post..Those Vultures on the Potomac
Really enjoyed this! I belong to Toastmasters so this is timely. Beginning with the end in mind is also the way I fuel my painting – not that it always ends up looking like what I had in mind, but if I don’t start this way, I plain don’t start!
suzens last blog post..Stress – Emotional Illness vs Architecture? Part 2
Great tips Jean, thanks for sharing them.
Grannymars last blog post..Food Monday ~ Salads
Mike,
Good luck on the funding. The operators are licensed for…? I have the impression it was for nuclear power plants. Am I confused about that? How long are the classes? I assume they have to pass an exam?
suzen,
I agree, sometimes the end product does change, and that’s all right too. It just means we’re learning from the process. In the case of a speech the important thing is it doesn’t happen while we’re giving it. It does help if the beginning and the end are connected. 😉
Grannymar,
Glad you liked it. 🙂
I’m pretty confident on the funding. It’ll be helpful for us for me to work, though we don’t NEED the extra income (right now).
Some of the operators in the class will be licensed to operate the nuclear power plant; others will be licensed to supervise the operation of the nuclear power plant. The class is about 14 months for the initial licensed reactor operators (ROs) and for those who will be senior reactor operators (SROs) but who have not been previously licensed. The SRO students who are already licensed operators will attend the last 6 to 8 months of the class — it depends on how the class is sequenced due to other plant scheduling conflicts.
The operators must pass a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) written exam and an operating exam which includes dynamic simulator scenarios and job performance examination items — demonstrating to the regulator that the operator has the knowledge and ability to actually operate the plant — in the simulator and in the plant. Depending on the number of candidates, this operating exam may take as much as a full work week.
About four weeks before their NRC exam, they would have gone through a similar exam, called an audit exam, administered by the facility, to demonstrate to their management that they are ready for the NRC exam. The time period between the two exams allows for remediation and re-evaluation prior to the NRC exam.
It’s really hard to explain the difficulty of the program to others who are not familiar with US commercial nuclear. I have had students who had engineering degrees tell me that it was the very hardest training that they had ever gone through. About 4 years ago, one of the students was pulled from the class before the NRC exam because he just couldn’t integrate and process all of the information he needed to as a supervisor in the control room in a casualty situation. He had passed the audit, but the training staff and his management decided that he wasn’t cut out to be a supervisor in the control room. He has two engineering degrees and is one of the sharpest guys that I know. He is now an instructor and sits in the desk that I had and has my old phone number.
I’m pretty familiar with the initial training program. I wrote the original program and course summary for it back in the early 90s, though the program is much older than that and had been run under a different type of document before that and was much more ad hoc in nature.
Since 1989, there has been at least 125 individual NRC license exams given on Unit 1 at Arkansas Nuclear One. There have been 3 failures on the written, none on the operating exam. All were reexamined successfully. Unit 2, which has a separate Operations staff and Ops training staff because the two units are made by different companies and have different systems and operating characteristics, has a similar success record for its license exams.
I’ll be teaching emergency and abnormal operating procedures, severe accident management, mitigating core damage, and other things in the classroom. I’ll also be running the simulator.
The nice thing about working as a contractor at the place I retired is that I get to do the part of the job that I really enjoyed — and very little of the part of the job that made me want to leave!
And that’s probably why I got long-winded on this comment.
Mikes last blog post..Those Vultures on the Potomac
Mike,
Thank you! You are not long-winded…I appreciate your sharing. I find it encouraging that they stopped the fellow from being a supervisor. As you say, that doesn’t mean he’s not extremely bright and capable in some areas, just that he wasn’t suited for the job.
I’m happy about your new job. There’s nothing like having work you love.
I used to be a professional speaker. Everyone knows that stories are what draws people in. I have 4 daughters and 3 grandchildren. I used personal photos that matched the stories I told. For example I had a photo of my parents in wheelchairs sitting side by side. I had grandchildren playing in mud puddles. I had a picture of my daughter who was born without a right hand getting her medal after participating in a trialthon.
One good thing about so many children was I never ran out of stories and photos. I spoke to hospitals, universities and places of business. Who can’t relate to everyday people doing everyday things?
Of course I had a story for each photograph.
Tess The Bold Lifes last blog post..Magic Monday with Keith Harrell
Tess,
I agree. If you’re trying to inspire people stories are the way to go. It’s great that you had so many examples.
Absolutely brilliant. I have archived it to use to advise anyone having to speak in public.
rummusers last blog post..Princess Victoria Now Looks For Prince Charming.
rummuser,
Thank you. 😉
That is good to learns the software. But… according to me, presentation software is just a tools, like projector, wide screen, etc.
Other people can help you (replaces) if “just” for create a slide-show (as operator).
The subject (creator) is you… your thought and idea for presentation, because NO one can replace it.
Happy Mother’s Day to you and all friend here.
tiknos last blog post..Mother’s Day – A Tribute for Mother
tikno,
I agree. I did have a backup plan in case the projector broke down. It would have worked but some of my pictures were cute enough to make an impression and liven the talk…so I’m glad I could use them.
In fact one of the fellows at the church and I checked out the system for a couple of hours the day before. It was a good thing we did, because it had some missing pieces that we had to provide. It pays to check these things. 😉