While developing a presentation, it’s helpful to start by writing a script to go along with the slides. We don’t suggest memorizing a script, but it’s a great way to learn your content and think about how you’ll transition between slides and key points as you prepare. Once you’ve got the content down you can forego the script and take a more conversational tone.
A common mistake people make during this portion of presentation development is writing the script to ‘read’ well instead of ‘sound’ good. We must write with the listener in mind, not the reader (as we’re typically doing when writing). This is why it’s imperative to practice your presentation out loud after writing a script. When practiced out loud, we can determine if our choice of language sounds good or if it just read well.
Our presentation might read well, but if it doesn’t sound good it won’t matter.
