Map Your Route (Through Your Online Presentation)
Photo by Aksonsat Uanthoeng from Pexels
By Scott J. Allen & Maria Soriano Young
Picture it: You’re listening to a presentation (either virtual or in-person) where the presenter just starts talking and wanders their way through the topic. There are tangents and anecdotes scattered throughout, and halfway through the session, you aren’t sure what the most important main points are that you should be remembering. It doesn’t help that you’ve heard the presenter try to get back on track by saying, “but I digress…” a few times. Sound familiar?
This imaginary presenter would benefit from a roadmap created during their design process. A roadmap helps listeners follow your overall trajectory and is equally important to share with the audience in presentations given in-person and online. Scott Taylor, Owner & Creative Director at BlkDog, described his roadmap this way when reflecting on one of his presentations: “My presentation consisted of five main points, and I made sure to list them all at the onset, calling each one out to the audience as an oral signpost of where we were headed. Within each main point, I added two bullet points to serve as reminders and visual cues for the audience to understand my research and provide context.”
You would be amazed at how often speakers fail to do what Scott Taylor suggests—set forth a clear layout of how their presentation will go for their audience. As a result, the message becomes lost, muddled, or unclear. An outline of the presentation’s content sets your audience at ease, helps them follow along, and reinforces key points. Speakers who consistently revisit their roadmap by including oral signposts, or include signals on their slides like numbers, Roman numerals, and/or the same subject titles presented in the roadmap shown at the beginning, ensure a clear and concise message. At times, people think that a roadmap equals a rigid and formulaic delivery, requiring consistent signposts like “Now, we will move to agenda item 5.” This is not the case. Excellent presenters will weave in and out of their roadmap in a conversational tone. They reinforce critical content, and perhaps most importantly, keep themselves on track. So once a speaker has concluded their introduction and objective statement (if applicable), the following statement would help listeners know what’s to come:
I have shared some incredible statistics with you and suggested that we can increase human lifespan by upwards of 30 years within the next couple of decades. Moving forward, I will share how, and our research suggests three primary methods: 1) preventative medicine, 2) regenerative medicine, and 3) diet and intermittent fasting. I will conclude with a quick summary and a fascinating statistic. First, preventative medicine…”
Further along in the presentation, the speaker might say…
“…so preventative medicine is our first method for increasing lifespan. Our second is regenerative medicine…”
A little later…
“…so preventative medicine is our first method for increasing lifespan. Regenerative medicine is our second method. The third method is diet and intermittent fasting.”
And toward the end (review and conclusion)…
“Today, we have discussed three approaches that, based on our research, are critical to increasing lifespan: preventative medicine, regenerative medicine, and diet/intermittent fasting. These three approaches will increase our lifespan by upwards of 30 years. According to a 2009 ABC News story, ‘Most Babies Born Today May Live Past 100,’ more than half of babies born today will live to be more than 100. That means a baby born today has more than a 50% chance to see 2120! Now think back to 1920—100 years ago. Can you even imagine the world they will see? I am excited to hear your thoughts and would welcome questions or comments.”
As a listener, you can see how easy it is to follow along. If the speaker’s objective is for the audience to remember the three approaches, repetition is required and appreciated by the audience. It’s incumbent on the presenter to continually revisit and repeat key points. It can feel like overkill for the speaker, but it’s appreciated and aids with retention for the listener. Be sure that you rely on either the same terms or similar language when you are incorporating the oral signpost reminders (as you can see in the examples above) to make it clear to your audience that you are moving forward through the agenda.
Much like typing your destination into your map app before you leaving the driveway and reading through each step to help you feel prepared for your trip, the incorporation of an intentionally designed roadmap will show attendees that you have spent time putting together your presentation and that you’ve kept their needs in mind along the way!
We explore this topic and others in our new book Captovation: Online Presentations by Design.