Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - The Goodman ...

pg. 68
The Small Stuff
(It’s Worth Sweating) – cont’d
Kristen Grimm, who speaks on numerous panels in the course of a year, does not leave
the preparation to chance. “I always talk to the other panelists to make sure I won’t be
duplicating their content,” she says. When Andy Lipkis of TreePeople was asked to
submit an abstract of his remarks for an upcoming panel appearance, he pushed back. “I
can’t give you an abstract until I know where you are going and what you want,” Lipkis
told the event organizers.
Many other expert commentators echoed these thoughts. At larger conferences with many
breakout sessions, panels are often the planners’ neglected stepchildren. Experienced
presenters, however, will take matters into their own hands and arrange the necessary
conference calls to ensure a sufficient level of preparation.
One other common problem afflicting this kind of presentation can best be described
as “The Panelist Who Ate My Time.” Thanks to the long-winded gentleman to your
left, those 15 minutes for which you prepared so carefully have been cut to five, and the
moderator is ever-so-nicely asking you to keep it brief and help get the session back on
schedule. What do you do?
Under these circumstances, Cliff Atkinson’s story template can be a very useful tool. As
you can see below, the middle section of the template (Act II of the story) is divided into
three columns. This allows users to enter different amounts of detail depending on the
length of the story they plan on telling (5, 15, or 45 minutes). Following this same model,
you could prepare for a panel by mapping out the key points you would want to make
given different time limits. Now when your 15-minute window suddenly collapses to five,
instead of hastily crossing out and rearranging your notes, you can simply shift your focus
from one column to another and make the most of the time you have.
Use these
sections to plan
your remarks
for panels.
Insert story title and byline here
Act I: Set up the story
The setting
The protagonist
The imbalance
The balance
The solution
Act II: Develop the action
5-Minute Column: 15-Minute Column: 45-Minute Column:
Turning point
Act III: Frame the resolution
The crisis
The solution
The climax
The resolution