Be Prepared
Being prepared is an essential part of authentic delivery. Preparation is an opportunity to check in on the main elements of your talk (e.g., topic, audience, structure, and story) in advance. Practicing these key elements of your talk will improve the quality of your presentation.
What Does it Mean to be Prepared for a Talk?
Preparation is all about practicing and setting yourself up for success. Preparing for a talk doesn’t mean you won’t experience emotions like being nervous, but preparing may give you fewer things to be nervous about. Preparation may even get you excited about your talk.
In preparation for your talk, take some time to reflect on how you are feeling. Consider the following questions:
- How will you know your talk was successful?
- What emotions come up for you? How can preparing help support or alleviate some of these emotions?
- Are there parts of the talk that you would like more practice on? Why?
- What parts of the talk do you feel most confident about? Why?
How Can I Prepare for a Talk?
Create a Practice Routine
There are many ways to prepare for a talk, however, the most important thing to remember is to do what works best for you. Creating a practice routine can help you to get started.
Practice Routine Ideas:
- Practice your talk with colleagues, mentors, and friends and ask for feedback (both within your discipline and outside of your discipline, the different perspectives can be beneficial).
- Record yourself practicing the talk and review it on your own or with trusted people.
- Use resources. For example, you can review Prepare for Any Talk or the Research Presentation Rubric (PDF) to identify key milestones in talk preparation.
- Identify grounding practices (mental, physical, and/or spiritual) that you can use to ease any emotions that come up for you. Try to run through your talk at least two or three times before you present. This can help you identify some quick fixes early on.
Toolkit
Worksheet: Create a Practice Routine (PDF)
Use the Create a Practice Routine worksheet to identify your own practice routine plan.
Prepare for the Question and Answer (Q&A) Session
During many talks, there is a Question and Answer (Q&A) portion where audience members have a chance to ask presenters questions. Q&A’s can be harder to prepare for because you can’t truly anticipate what people will ask. Here are some things that you can do to prepare:
- Acknowledge that it’s okay to say, “I don’t know.”
- Take your time to respond.
- Be open to opportunities for connection and collaboration that may arise.
Put it into Practice
To be prepared for any talk, use this checklist:
- Get clear on what preparation means for you. Identify how you will know that your talk is successful.
- Create a practice routine that works best for you.
- Reach out for support and feedback from trusted colleagues and mentors.
- Prepare for any questions that may arise. It is okay not to have all the answers.
Next step
Click on the box below to learn more about how to structure your presentation.