How to Create an Impactful Ignite Talk
I was recently chosen to present at an Ignite conference. For those who are not familiar with Ignite, it is a fast-paced public speaking event where you speak for 5 minutes with a slide deck where the slides advance automatically every 15 seconds. This type of presentation can greatly impact an audience with your message – if done well.
Here are 6 lessons I learned as I put together my presentation:
1. Be concise. It is best to choose a single message that you want your audience to remember rather than try to talk on several points. Choosing one message was tough, as I had a lot I wanted to share with my audience. Researching my audience helped narrow my message to one core message that I could build my 5-minute presentation around.
2. Tell a Story. This style of presentation lends itself to storytelling. A story emotionally engages an audience, and I found a story from my experience that fit with my message. Five minutes is not a lot of time, so choosing the right story is key to success with this format.
3. Precision counts. In the planning stages of this presentation, I knew my wording needed to be precise. Using the statistic that people speak on average 150 words per minute, I determined that I should deliver about 37 words per slide. I typically don’t script my presentations to this extent, and I found that in this case, precise scripting was necessary so that my words and slides were coordinated.
4. Develop good slides. Images are best for this type of presentation, and I needed to find the right image to enhance my delivery. My favorite sites for finding royalty-free images are www.pexels.com and www.pixabay.com. There were a few slides where I could not find the right image to convey a piece of information I wanted to share, so I did resort to using a few slides that included a black background and one word in white text.
5. Practice. This is a must! My presentation is still a couple of weeks away, however, with my script complete, it’s time to ensure my words are in sync with my slides. Practicing helps with pacing my delivery and knowing where to pause. Practicing each day ensures a confident delivery on presentation day.
6. Repurpose your talk. Not one to waste time, energy, or resources, I’ve got plans for this piece of content I’ve generated. My slide deck (with some minor tweaking) will be posted on Slideshare, and I will share my video of this talk after I have delivered it.
Preparing and delivering a presentation in this format, I learned a new skillset. In our attention-deficit world, I think the ability to deliver a short, yet impactful presentation will lend itself to many more speaking opportunities and yield a greater influence on those in my audience.
Interested in coaching on how to prepare and deliver an Ignite talk? Let’s connect here.