I’ve been brainstorming and mind-mapping before I make my presentations, but then it was taking me forever to choose my topic and a few points to discuss.

But for my most recent presentation, I used Olivia’s guide to making a PowerPoint presentation. It helped me quickly decide on a key message. Then I looked for three points that would most persuade my audience to act on my key message.

In retrospect, I didn’t need to do all that brainstorming and mind-mapping: I had pages and pages of “research and brainstorming notes and maps” for a mere seven-minute talk!

I learned a lot during this research stage — but did I use my time efficiently? Probably not. And this time-consuming approach would have killed me if I needed to write this presentation on a tight deadline.

Next time, I’m going to try Olivia’s approach: start by crafting your key message, and then answer your audience’s three questions about it.

I think it will make me faster and more focused.

This is a good read and got me thinking. I rarely use brainstorming during my preparation, however, i disagree with the blanket statement that it is not a good idea. Your points are well taken, it can lead to info overload if done improperly.

Knowing my topic and my objective, it is possible to use brainstorming to find the elements i MAY include. Brainstorming is a thought dump. if one stops at the point, then you are correct, the talk will be overloaded. However, if one takes time to then EDIT and ORGANIzE their thoughts, it can be a very useful process.

i do congratulate you – you got your readers thinking and speaking.

Take a look at my post on Pecha Kucha http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-skills/pecha-kucha-presentation/

As you’ll see I disagree that the Pecha Kucha format automatically leads to a scatter gun or random approach – although it is easy to fall into that trap. Working on your theme and outline before you design your slides is critical to avoid this.

All the best for your presentation.
Olivia

This is a very interesting subject, and will make me look again when I am presenting.
One quick question – I am doing a “Pecha Kucha” session (google it!) which is 20 slide for 20 seconds each, so somewhat scatter gun/random approach – any ideas for that!

All good wishes and thank you so much for all your insight and debate

Chantal

I’ve now published that post – written just for you .
http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/content/memorable-key-message-10-minutes/
Olivia

A little bit of kudos to me , but more importantly it sounds like the blog post might be super tailored to me (and people in my situation!)

I love that phrase “topic commitment issues” – can I use that in the blog post I’m writing to address some of the issues you’ve raised?

Olivia