The other day I was on a 60-min call with a client. We were looking closely at her script. She is one of 10 speakers who will give a 4-min talk at an outdoor venue.
I shared my screen and we talked through the script. Then I timed her delivering it. By the end, she was way over the time limit given.
We needed to get out the ax. We spent the rest of the call re-working and re-writing.
In the end, she booked an additional coaching session. “Wow, Cindy, you’re a master at this,” she said.
I do love me a good script to perfect.
PowerPoint slide deck or not, scriptwriting is a key ingredient to a masterful presentation.
What do I mean by “scriptwriting?”
I mean planning out what words you are going to say and how you are going to say them – from word choice to intonation to planting pauses.
The On Point editing process is below. (This is for your PowerPoint slide deck scripts, too.) Which stage are you in with a message right now?
1. First, get out the ax. Find SECTIONS that need to go. If they’re boring you as you read it out loud – they will bore everyone else!
2. Then, get a paring knife. Find SENTENCES. Start paring them down. Make two sentences out of one. Create repetition. Turn a sentence into a question, or a string of three questions. Who doesn’t like to be asked a question?
3. Finally, get out the scalpel. This is often disguised as a thesaurus. Go after WORDS. Find punchy adjectives. Make 4 syllable words into 1-2 syllable words. What action word do you really want there? Which verbs or words do you keep saying?
For me, scriptwriting is fun. I love taking hold of someone else’s puzzle with a bunch of mismatched pieces and making it beautiful.
Remember – when you’re speaking to an audience, you want to hit CLARITY and SIMPLICITY. If you follow our process, you’ll do just that, and you’ll be on your way to nailing it.
