The Power of a Presentation Checklist!
Last week I had my car serviced. When I got in the driver’s seat to go home, I noticed a “Final Inspection” checklist on the passenger seat, that had been filled in by the servicing technicians.
It reminded me how vital it is to use checklists in our day-to-day lives.
Dr Atul Gawande covers how important checklists are in his book The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.
Dr. Gawande carried out a research project funded by the World Health Organization to test the effects of having and using a simple checklist on reducing central line infection rates during surgery.
This simple checklist has been taught in basic training for years (example: wash hands, clean patient’s skin etc). Yet it all it took for one of these simple but important steps to be accidentally omitted and it resulted in severe increases in infection rates or even death.
Once the simple checklist was implemented, all hospitals had a significant reduction in infection rates.
Checklists don’t only apply to doctors and medicine. Dr Gawande describes other examples of checklists used by pilots (e.g. the pre-flight checklist), chefs, architects, and investors.
Do you use a checklist before you give a speech or presentation?
I’ve found that taking the time and energy to prepare one, and then to keep updating it over time, is one of the best things I can do to feel calm and relaxed on the big day.
There’s enough to think about when delivering a live presentation! Who needs additional problems of forgetting something important?
In fact, sometime, it only takes one thing to go wrong, to derail your entire presentation!
In a Virtual Presentation, some of the items on my presentation checklist include:
Restart the PC and modem? Check
Disconnect landline phone? Check.
Turn off doorbell? Check.
Remind people at home I am in a meeting? Check.
Close all other programs, including email program? Check.
Print a hard copy of my presentation? Check
Run Windows Update? Check.
Update Zoom software? Check.
Having a checklist/contingency plan means that your brain can focus 100% on the task at hand, rather than having that vague, uneasy and not to mention, stressful feeling that you may have inadvertently forgotten something.
Using a checklist also dramatically increase the odds of having a seamless and successful presentation that runs without a hitch.
So what are you waiting for? Get started on your presentation checklist today!
© 2022 Susan Weser. All rights reserved.
Susan Weser is the Founder of Speaking2Win, a boutique public speaking and presentation skills consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia. Susan’s mission is to demystify public speaking and presenting. She loves to fast-track her clients’ public speaking success, empowering them with the skills and confidence to excel in all their public speaking endeavours.
