Be Prepared

Why is being prepared important?

• Preparation is an opportunity to check in on the main elements of your talk in advance  (Topic, Audience, Structure, Story). 
• Preparation helps you improve your talk. 
• Preparation is all about practice. 

What does it mean to be prepared for a talk? 

ASSESS | Reflection

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. 

There are reflection questions you can answer to get started:

• 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? 

PREPARE | Curate 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. Here are some ideas: 

Reviewing your talk: 

• Practice your talk with people (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 to identify key milestones in talk preparation.  

Tip: 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. 

Download 'Create Your Practice Routine' Worksheet

Preparing Yourself:

• Are there grounding (mental, physical, and/or spiritual) practices you can equip yourself with? 
• Are there people you can connect with to support your preparation? 

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.

Anything else, I need to consider?

Deliver | Review