Writing and presentations, redux 
A while back, I wrote my first musings on the similarities between writing and presentations. Since then, I’ve finished reading the book that I mentioned in the post and have given a couple of presentations. And the link between writing and presenting is even stronger in my mind.
Starting with an outline
The last presentation I gave (with my business partner) was on podcasting. We both know the subject well, and had a lot of ideas. So, when it came time to write the script like any good writers we started with an outline. As when writing an article, essay, or book, the outline helped us focus our ideas and get rid of any extra baggage.
Because I had a little more time on my hands, I wrote the final drafts of the script. A lot was ripped out of the script, but almost as much was put in.
Writing for the ears
When writing the script, I tried to keep the tone as conversational as possible. Or, as keeping with how we deliver our podcast. That was a lot more difficult than it sounds. I had to keep the informal tone and cadence of speech, but not make it sound forced. I’m not sure I completely succeeded, but I don’t think I did a bad job. If you’re interested, you can judge for yourself.
Telling a story
Something interesting, though, happened between the script and the slides. With a couple of exceptions, the slides contained no words. Whether consciously or not, we structured the presentation that way. A slide became the entry point to a topic, and we told a story around each slide.
The slides and the script developed in parallel, based on the outline. As the script changed, the slides evolved to reflect the changes in the way were were planning to tell the story.
What’s next?
As it turns out, no two presentations are the same. Aside from the differences in subject matter, the way in which they develop also shifts. Sometimes dramatically. My next presentation is a good example of that.
I have an outline for that presentation, but instead of working on the script first I’ve started developing the slides. There’s no concrete reason for this. It just feels natural this time around to base my script on the visuals. Which is very strange because I’m not a very visually-oriented person.
That said, as the script is finalized the slides will definitely change. And I’m going to write the script in the conversational tone of the last one.
In the end I’m hoping that creating and delivering more presentations will not only help my oral communication skills, but also help me improve my writing as well.
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