The Complete Presentation and Public Speaking/Speech Course

Welcome to Act 1: "Identifying and Identifying with the Audience"

In business, we always want to know who our customer is before selling or marketing the product. We also refer to this as the target market. If you know who your customer is before creating the product, then you can tailor the product to meet the needs of the customer. As such, before we create our speech or presentation product, we need to understand who our customer or audience is. 

In terms of the What, Why and How of ACT 1:

We will discuss WHAT we need to understand about our audience before making the content of the presentation.

WHY? Because creating content without understanding the precise demographic and characteristics of our audience might lead us to creating a suboptimal presentation experience. 

HOW are we going to do this? We will discuss what delivery and content makes most sense for an audience  and then we will complete an exercise in our Success Journal that will help us understand who we are presenting to so that we can make sure to:

1) meet or better yet exceed our audience’s expectations, 

2) appeal to the right emotions (if applicable) and 3) make the presentation experience edutaining enough for the right audience.

After we have completed ACT 1, we will know much more about our audience so that we can move on to ACT 2 where we will discuss the purpose of our speech and then we will create the content in  ACT3 and then we will create the slides in ACT 4. 

In Act 5 and beyond we will discuss having even more confidence and the optimal delivery of our speech, planning and practicing for the big day and then we will discuss 25 different types of presentations or public speaking engagements and how to use more than 10 different types of presentation software products, which will be fun! Thanks 

Welcome to Act 2: "The Purpose of our Speech"

Now that we know who our target market customer or audience is, let’s talk about the purpose meaning the goal of the presentation. If we have the end goal in mind, then it is much easier to create the content, then the slides and then the delivery. 

In terms of the What, Why and How of Act 2:

Let’s start with the What. In this act what we will do is we will begin with discussing what is the purpose of our speech – meaning:

Are we selling something?

Are we giving an update on our progress?•are we teaching a new concept?

Are we challenging people to think differently? Etc.

In terms of Why is it important to know the purpose of the speech? Because if we begin with the end in mind, we will be much more likely to create the perfect content and then we will achieve the primary goal of the speech without missing the point. If there is not much time given to you for your presentation, you want to make sure that you discuss the most important reason why you are giving the talk. Please don’t forget to use the “SO WHAT” test – meaning is everything that you said relevant.

Lastly, in terms of How are we going to do this? We will discuss an exercise to help you begin with the end in mind when you think and document the purpose of your speech. If applicable, I want to include the criteria for what do you need to get promoted even if it is not the reason why you are giving your speech because often, important decision makers are in the audience and they don’t get the chance to see you shine or present often enough. Thanks

Welcome to Act 3: "Creating the Content"

Now that we know who the audience is and what the purpose is of our presentation, in this Act, we will discuss creating the content of our presentation. Once we have perfected our content – meaning what we are going to say, then in Act 4 we can create the slides (if we are using slides or any visuals). 

What, Why and How of this Act:

In terms of the WHAT of this current Act, which is act 3 there are 4 different sections or scenes as follows.

• In Act 3, Scene 1 we will discuss the best ways to start our speech or presentation by writing the incredible starting content portion. We will spend a lot of time on this because you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
• In Act 3, Scene 2 we will discuss the middle content part of our speech – meaning what to include as well as how to structure the speech or presentation. 
• Then in Act 3, Scene 3 we will discuss the best way to end our speech or presentation by creating the impactful final content
• Lastly, in Act 3, Scene 4 we will discuss how to get feedback on the content of the speech before creating the slides and the delivery. 

In terms of WHY we need a separate ACT for creating the content, a separate act for creating the slides and a separate act for creating the delivery. I analyzed the top musicians and the top movies. Singers often write the music and the lyrics separately.

Similarly, when movies are made, writing the script comes before picking the actors and then working on the delivery of the actors performances etc. This is why we want to cover the content of our speech before discussing the slide structure in Act 4 and then our delivery later in the course.

In terms of HOW are we going to create the content? We will look at great quotes to start a speech, we will look at how to structure brilliant unstructured ideas so that your speech is organized so we can create the slides and then the delivery. 

We will discuss how you can stand out from other speakers. We will also cover dealing with writer’s block and how to really get inspired to create your masterpiece of a speech. Remember that life often all comes down to a few short moments and one of these moments is your speech. 

Now that we understand how to make powerful content for our presentations, we can discuss how to make the slides for our speech.

Welcome to Act 4 Which is all about making your slides. 

In this Act, there are 4 Scenes: 

1. In Act 4, Scene 1 we will create the slides and discuss what presentation software to use.
2. In Act 4, Scene 2 we will learn how to add and manipulate images.
3. In Act 4, Scene 3 we will learn how to add videos and other content.
4. In Act 4, Scene 4, we will discuss case studies on how I made the slides for 10 different speaking occasions using many of the concepts and software products that we discuss in this Act.

In terms of the What, Why and How of Act 4:

What we will do is we will design and create incredible slides, images, animations and additional presentation material for our presentations.

I am going to expose you to many different types of software applications in order to help you make your amazing slides. 

Why are we covering many types of applications aside from PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides? Because I want to give you a menu of options so that you can choose what software package is best for you to use. You might even want to use more than just one software application that I discuss to make your slides. 

How are we going to do all of this? In each lesson in this Act, I will discuss important slide creation concepts and then I will discuss HOW I made the slides for THAT PARTICULAR LECTURE immediately after each lecture in an optional HOW to lesson. You can even download these slides and play around with them or use some parts of them to make your own presentations if you want as I want to help you work smarter and not harder. : )

The different presentation software applications we will discuss in the OPTIONAL HOW TO LESSONS include the most recent versions of 

1. PowerPoint, 
2. Keynote, 
3. Google Slides, 
4. Powtoons, 
5. Canva.com, 
6. Final Cut Pro X,  
7. Haiku Deck, 
8. Piktochart.com, 
9. Pixelmaker, 
10. Paint, 
11. Procreate and 
12. Prezi.

I know this is a lot, but don’t worry as I will make it easy to understand and easy to use all of these programs. 

I also realize that some of you use Mac, some use windows, some use Chrome Books, some use iPads and other tablets. As a result, I will cover presentation software products that work on all of the aforementioned devices. 

We will cover delivery in Act 6. For now, lets enjoy the edutaining process of making slides. Thanks