on November 18, 2013
It’s also for you, the speaker. Speaking takes up your time and energy. It teaches you to express concepts, to listen well, and it even teaches you a lot about how you think.
You can think too much about your audience
It’s important to teach people something useful, but you can think too much about the art of teaching. Don’t forget that you need to have joy in what you’re presenting– the material should excite you. There should be something about it that you find interesting and look forward to.
This doesn’t mean you always have to present something that’s rocket science. I truly believe the opposite: most great presentations teach things that are extremely useful and involve common activities, not things that are only needed 1% of the time. Teach subject matter you know well.
But have slides that make you laugh, or which you think convey the material in a beautiful way. Present work that you’re really proud of, that invigorates you.
Don’t forget your audience entirely
When writing a presentation, it’s still critical to ask, “Who is the person that this will help?” Figure out how much experience they have and what problems your talk helps with. This helps you tailor your presentation so that it’s meaningful.
It also helps you write a title and abstract that gets the right people in the room.
Because while a presentation is partly for the speaker, it’s still mostly for your audience. Don’t forget yourself, but know that your mission is to teach others.
