It Made Sense in Your Head

Uncle Bob has been speaking for years. Every invitation sends him back to a blank page and a new speech.

Recently, an idea has been nagging him, and he has decided it deserves more from him. Yet he is still fumbling and stumbling, trying to express something he senses but cannot quite explain. The inkling is there. The fog has yet to lift its veil.

Bob starts looking for guidance. He knows how to prepare another speech, but his usual approach is not helping him clarify this idea. How does he develop it into something an audience can understand and use? That search brings him to Pro Speak & Lead, where his work on a Signature Presentation starts with questions he cannot yet answer.

What Is He Really Saying?

What is he really saying? Why does it matter? What should his audience take away? Together, those answers will form the spine of his presentation. Bob thinks he has a reasonable grasp of them until he tries to explain.

An idea that seems clear in his head becomes uncertain when someone asks him what he means. He adds an explanation, then another, and discovers that more words do not necessarily make his thinking clearer. There is a connection he has been making in his own mind that his audience cannot be expected to supply.

The Story He Loves

Then there is the story he loves. He has worked on it, knows where the laugh comes and enjoys telling it. But when he is challenged to show how it serves his idea, he struggles. Being a good story may not be enough to earn its place in this presentation.

Meanwhile, a point he has barely developed raises a question worth staying with. He had treated it as something to mention in passing. Now it may be the very thing his audience needs him to explain.

This is demanding work, even for an experienced speaker. Through guidance and feedback, Bob is discovering where his idea needs more thought. He cannot refine what he has not yet understood.