1. Define

Before building a draft of your presentation it is really important to define the overall leadership direction that your communication will support, and clarify the context you will be preparing your communication for. Taking this step will help you to understand what your messaging needs to do, and ensure that your communication is hitting the mark.

As you work through the following questions, use the notes you developed in our earlier sessions to gather the strategic guidance you need to set yourself up for success.

Q1: What is your “North Star” project mission? ✨

What is the ultimate purpose of the work you will be sharing about on the panel? (we’ve touched on some of this in our previous workshops) Distill this purpose into a short sentence of 7 words or less.

Q2: What is your Core purpose and intention for this communication? ↗️

As you think about sharing your work at the panel, honestly ask yourself the questions:

How do I feel about sharing my work in this panel?

Do I even want to share it? If not, why not? If so, why do I want to share it?

How connected do I feel to this?

What is your core intention for your presentation at the panel?

Make sure you’re clear with yourself about this. Once you’re clear, write down the primary purpose you feel for this communication.

Q3: Who are the Audience Members & what are they listening for? 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Off the top of your mind, write a list of types of people that you imagine or expect may be in the audience. Reflecting on your intention for the panel, ask yourself what your intention is for each audience segment.

What do you hope each of them will takeaway from your presentation? Once this is clear, take a moment to put yourself in each of their shoes one at a time. Think about their mindsets, their values, their reality. Ask yourself, what are their concerns? As they are coming into this session, what are they listening for?

Q4: How do you imagine the General Context? 🌑

Reflecting on the event and the panel itself, write some notes about how you imagine the experience may feel for the participants and for you. Describe your expectations. As the session unfolds, what will it probably be like?

Q5: What are the Key Parameters that you have to work with in this setting? 📊

Brainstorm any parameters that you understand your presentation will need to work with. These may include length of time, technical considerations, expectations from the other event organizers. If you feel any uncertainty about these items, this is a good opportunity to flag your questions with the rest of the team and make sure that everyone is on the same page.

Q6: What are the Actions and Outcomes you want to create? 🤸

By delivering this presentation effectively, what meaningful outcomes and actions do you want to create?

Q7: What is your Vision for Success? 👁️‍🗨️

Imagine that you’ve just created and delivered a highly effective presentation about your work, and your message landed powerfully for everyone who attended. You were incredibly successful. What does success look like? how do you picture it in your imagination?

Congrats! You’ve finished the first piece of the puzzle! Take a break, digest some of these thoughts and come back for the next section.

⁠

Back to

Getting Started⁠

⁠

Next Step

⁠

2. Frame⁠

⁠

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.