Summary:
- Prepare the structure not the content.
- Present just three main points.
- Practice on any random subject to get the idea.
Resources: 4Mat; Hypnosis Downloads; Andrew Hardman
The key to giving unprepared talks isn’t having any number of topics ‘stored up’ in your head ready to be rolled out when the occasion demands. The key is getting very familiar with, and really comfortable with, the essential structure of a good short talk, and then practicing threading any topic that you might briefly speak about into that structure.
In a nutshell, the essential talk or presentation consists of:
- the introduction – you tell them what you’re going to tell them and how you are going to do this
- the talk – you tell them and or show them three main points
- the recap – you tell them what you’ve told them
This structure is extremely flexible and allows you to concentrate on the bit in the middle that really matters – the talk – and create it out of only three or four ‘main points’. ‘Making three points’ is a far less scary proposition than ‘giving an unrehearsed speech’.
The 4Mat principal is based on :
- Why
- What
- How
- Where else and what if?
In the Thomas Cook suggested outline they follow the following guideline and refer to it as “like reading the News”:
- Tell them what you are going to tell them.
- Tell them / show them the news.
- Tell them what you’ve told them.