5. Refine

Having generated and integrated your working content, its time to further refine this content into your presentation structure and design the experience.

In this section we’ll revisit the parameters of the presentation, and the vision for success. These will guide you as you distill your content into a simple and effective presentation. Then we’ll refine the presentation to make sure that your message is punching through, and give it a test run to catch any issues that need tweaking. Once you’ve completed this section, you’ll feel confident in the message you’re communicating and ready to prepare for the stage.

1. Review the Parameters 🛠️

Returning to the first section (Define), review question 5 and the key parameters you’ve identified. Bring these notes alongside your distilled content. Be rigorous as you ask yourself,

What fits?: Where and how best can this content fit into the parameters that I’m working with in this presentation?

What doesn’t fit?: What content elements are in your list that don’t truly fit with the parameters of this presentation?

2. Consider the Experience 🎨

Once you’ve refined your content further, think about the experience as a whole. ask yourself:

Structure & Logic: What is the right structure for this presentation? Do I need to shuffle the order of certain elements? Is the journey holding together? Does the logic flow clearly from context to action?

Cadence & Affect: Thinking about the experience of the journey, what are the ebbs and flows of the experience? Which parts have high energy? Which parts have low energy? Where are you asking the audience to feel emotions? how intense are these emotions? How can you support your audience and helping them balance their emotional experience and their thoughts about your message? How might you invite your audience to interact with you during the presentation? What questions can you invite them to ask and answer in the chat for example?

Use these reflections to develop and refine the design of your presentation until you have a strong first draft.

3. Cross Check ✔️

Having developed your vision and first draft of the presentation, it is really helpful to cross check your content and make sure that it is hitting the mark. Below are some valuable methods that we recommend trying:

SUCCESS assessment: In the book Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath presents a simple checklist for refining your communications message. Ask yourself: Is my message Simple? Is my message Unexpected? Is my message Concrete? Is my message Credible? Does my message connect Emotionally? Does my message convey a compelling Story?

Use these questions to strengthen the power and punch of your message and presentation.

For more on this material check out the book summary here:

http://www.engineerguy.com/white-papers/made-to-stick.htm⁠

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Test Run / Overview: Now that you’ve developed and refined your presentation it’s time to do a workshop rehearsal run of the presentation with one of your colleagues. This will help you put your design to the test and quickly realize where it’s working and where it may needs some love. Ask your colleague for feedback using the success checklist questions, and evaluate whether the presentation is creating the kind of impact you want.

Vision Check: As a final cross check to make sure you are ready to move on to the next stage, take a moment to revisit your guidance notes from the define stage. Use these to double check that you have created a presentation which is designed for success on your terms. When you feel comfortable, move forward to prepare for the camera.

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