When you work at a company of any size, there are many people who participate in writing, editing, and approving any talk that you give.
It would be so delightful if all of those people (including you) could nail down your content three weeks before it’s time to deliver your talk, so that you have lots of time to learn every word. But we all know this never happens.
You don’t have twenty hours to rehearse your talk. You’ll be lucky if you can carve out a total of four. Should you have the entire script written out in full sentences on your confidence monitor or teleprompter? Or should you have bullets?
I am a fan of bullets. Because there’s nothing worse than standing and reading your talk at people. When a person has insufficient time to rehearse and has a verbatim script, reading it aloud is a tempting fallback. But watching you read it is beyond unpleasant for your audience.
Or, let’s say you’re on slide seven and you lose your place. You then find yourself squinting at your long script to find the next sentence to read. That is non-awesome as well.
Bullets are like training wheels or guardrails. You may not be able to memorize your whole talk, but you can at least remember the main points you’re supposed to hit on each slide. Short bullets will serve as reminders to help you keep on track while you do the work of connecting with your audience.
If you are a person who has the time and talent to write out a whole talk verbatim, memorize it, and then deliver it naturally, bless you. I applaud you. That is a rare skill. But for the rest of us, bullets are the way to go.
Not sure how to crush your next presentation? Navigate tough questions? Need some pragmatic, actionable communications advice? Consider Office Hours with Lisa, a great way to get bite-sized, personalized coaching. And there are tons of resources in poseycorp’s newsletter – subscribe here. Get some skills! Because it’s the great communicators who create the change they want to see in the world!
