Portfolio of Keith Elder

Speaking - Creating an Outline

by Keith Elder

Now that you've chosen a timeless, relevant topic, you're ready to start adding some structure. This doesn't mean you're ready to start creating slides. That's actually one of the last things you'll do. To build out the structure that will make your talk successful, start with an outline. This will include the key points that you'll use to tell your story. Once your outline's done, you'll be able to create a title and an abstract for your talk.

1. Create a Bulleted Outline

Using the tool of your choice (that supports bullet points), create a new document. Start listing the things you want to discuss in your presentation. It's OK if they're out of order, and the points don't need to be fully fleshed out. Just focus on getting your thoughts down. The example below outlines a presentation on financial tips and best practices.

Example:

Talk Topic: Financial Tips and Tricks

pro tip
  • Explain how credit works
  • How is credit score determined?
    • Credit score range
    • What impacts score
    • The importance of managing your credit
  • Helpful applications:
    • Simple - online banking with a great twist on budgeting
    • Acorns - great way to invest a little bit more
  • Avoid debt
  • There is never any good debt...that's a myth
  • It isn't about how much you earn. It is about how much you save.
  • Need to have an emergency fund.
  • Banks are evil...use a credit union
  • Buying a home
    • Down payment
    • Closing costs
    • Location. Location. Location,
    • Managing your largest asset

2. Put It in Order and Add Transitions and Talking Points

Next, we're going to refine our ideas and put our story together. Every good story has a beginning, middle and end. As you begin to organize, think about:

  • Introduction – Grabs attention and establishes topic and core message
  • Body – Tells the story using supporting points
  • Conclusion – Recaps main points in a memorable way and summarizes your core message or call-to-action

Think about your overall story and rearrange your bulleted outline so it has some order to it. Look for ways to connect each of your points through transitions. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience tie the points together for them. Remove items if they don't fit. Keep in mind you'll be lucky if audience remembers 5% of what you say, so make sure your core points are essential. For example, does it make sense to talk about credit or debt first? Or does it make sense to talk about helpful apps first? The example below shows the outline from step one, put in order and with transitions and talking points added.

Example:

Talk Topic: Financial Tips and Tricks

pro tip

Beginning / Introduction

  • Who am I?
  • Why I created this presentation
  • The main talking points today are: debt / credit / managing money and some helpful tips

Middle / Body

  • It isn't about how much you earn. It is about how much you save.
  • Emergency fund
    • How much money should be in the fund and how to save for one?
    • Where should you keep the money?
    • From emergency fund to inconvenience fund?
    • If you have a good inconvenience fund you can avoid borrowing money (nice transition to avoiding debt
  • Avoid debt
    • There is never any good debt. That is a myth.
    • If you do need to borrow because of a reason use Credit Union and not a bank.
      • Better interest rates
  • The importance of managing your credit
  • Explain how credit works
    • How is a credit score determined?
    • Credit score range
    • What impacts score
  • Buying a home
    • Down payment
    • Closing costs
    • Location. Location. Location.

End / Conclusion

  • Helpful applications:
    • Simple - online banking with a great twist on budgeting
    • Acorns - great way to invest a little bit more

Now the outline is starting to make more sense. The story and flow are coming into focus, and natural transitions are appearing within the timeline. For example, the last bullet point in the "emergency fund" section talks about building it up into an inconvenience fund to avoid borrowing money. This provides a nice set up for the talk about avoiding debt.

Things to consider

As you go through your outline here are some things to consider:

  • You should have one outline point per minute of speaking time.
  • Your presentation is more than a set of slides.
  • The outline should reflect speaking elements that your slides will complement.
  • This outline is your substance. Don't get so seduced by style (i.e. templates, fonts, images clothes, hair, etc.) that you lose the substance.
  • Seek meaningful relationships between outline points (i.e. chronological, spatial, cause-effect, low-importance to high-importance, broad to specific, etc.)

With a simple outline, good things will happen. This foundation of ideas supports everything else you do! Now you're ready to tackle your title and abstract.