How to Prepare a Presentation Worth Talking About in Less Than Two Hours?

A Simple, Practical 9-Step Guide

Remaining: 2 hours

Step one, 15 minutes: SKETCH

On a piece of paper, sketch out everything you need to mention. Don’t worry about the order just yet, or about how you’ll start or finish your presentation. Simply list all the ideas and thoughts that must be included. Use these guiding questions to help: What’s the main point? Why am I even talking about this? What do I need to explain to make sure my message comes across (especially when I consider how much—or how little—the audience knows)? What absolutely cannot be left out?

Recently, I was preparing a talk on critical thinking, and at this stage, I knew I absolutely had to include a definition of critical thinking. Since one simple and powerful definition breaks it down into three components, I also knew I had to explain all three.

Step two, 5 minutes: INTRODUCTION (HOOK)

From your prepared list, choose an idea or piece of information that’s both introductory and general enough (something familiar that people can relate to), but at the same time intriguing or even entertaining. In other words, something that lets you start your presentation with an anecdote, study, reference, or fact that will grab your audience’s attention right away. Write down this idea, maybe even in a few different variations.

For my presentation on critical thinking, I selected two studies that demonstrate the need for research and teaching of CT.

Step three, 5 minutes: OUTLINE

Following the thread you started with your opening sentences, complete the first draft of your presentation outline. Rewrite your ideas again, but arrange them in order this time.

Step Four, 5 Minutes: SEQUENCE

Take another look at your outline and number it—it’s possible that, compared to the previous step, something could be improved. For example, you might follow a structure like "problem -> solution", or "7 categories of [something]," and logically connect them, perhaps chronologically or as "cause -> effect".

Remaining: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Step five, 30 minutes: PRESENTATION (slides)

If you are making a presentation, now open a new file, and without thinking about the design and fonts, create slides that follow your sketch. You can place the headlines so that they match what is on the paper. If your presentation lasts 15 minutes or longer, insert a Table of Contents as the second slide, in which you will only briefly state in a table view what parts your presentation consists of, just enough for your audience to follow more easily. Then comes the longest part, which is inserting the content by item. Dedicate at least half an hour to this. A good general principle for presentations is: if you can, say it with a picture. Keep the text minimal – the bullet points are just a reminder for you when to say what, a catchphrase :) Also, the less there is in the presentation, and the more in your notes, the shorter it will take to refine the slides and the better you will be able to adapt the final content to the real audience in real time. Of course, you can always have notes from which you can read information so you can be 100% sure that you will not say it wrong, e.g., the exact number (data), year or foreign name. As a non-native English speaker, I always check the correct word pronunciation and write it down on a piece of paper.

Step six, 10 minutes: BREAK

If you’ve been sitting for an hour, it’s time to stand up, take a walk, make a cup of tea, treat yourself to a snack, or take a shower. Depending on what you need, you can completely switch off from the presentation, or you can ask your subconscious if it has any advice or ideas for improvement. I like to ‘chat with myself’ while doing the dishes or something similar—it serves as a mix of visualization and preparation.

Remaining: 50 minutes

Step Seven, 15 minutes: MY VOICE

In the booklet Five Ways to Achieve Authenticity in Public Speaking, I share a few tips that apply at this stage. In short:
(1) Decide how you'll connect yourself to the topic early on—somewhere in slides 1-3 (this could even be on the first slide if it includes your name, title, and institution).
(2) Pay attention to transitions between slides—this is another chance to refine their order.
(3) Somewhere in the middle, challenge what you've been saying so far. Speak cautiously or openly ask, 'Is this really (always) true?' or 'Could it be done better/cheaper?' Then, develop an answer to that.
(4) Create space for a rhetorical figure or two—perhaps toward the end."

In my example on critical thinking, I demonstrated that there are different approaches, which align with challenging what I said, and I use rhetorical figures when I retell parts as vividly as possible.

Step eight, 20 minutes : DESIGN

Now, think about the design. Presentation tools already offer smart, simple, and visually appealing solutions. Make sure your font size is at least 14 everywhere, that the text color is easy to read against the background, and if you need photos, you can download them for free from websites like Pexels, Unsplash, or FreePik.

Step nine, 15 minutes: FIRST RUN

Take a (new?) sheet of paper, start your presentation, and try running through it from start to finish. On the paper, note where you paused, what needs fixing on the slides (e.g., animations), and how you felt about each part as you spoke. If possible, talk more about the topics you enjoy and keep it shorter for the ones you’re less enthusiastic about—or maybe you can remove those parts entirely? If not, try to find an angle that makes them easier for you to present.
Does anything feel redundant? Can you explain something more clearly? For example, people often introduce themselves and their topic in the first two slides and end up repeating the same thing on the third slide. Maybe there’s a way to streamline that.
When I do a run-through like this, I can accurately sense how long the presentation will take and spot the points I included just because “it’s good to have them” rather than because “I enjoy/can/want to talk about them.” At this stage, I either remove those points or make a note to learn more about them so I can speak about them with confidence and enthusiasm.

That's it. Two hours have passed, and now you have a presentation! 😊 If it’s not for today or tomorrow, it’s best to step away from it for the rest of the day. You can leave a sticky note next to your laptop to jot down any ideas if they come to you. If you're feeling particularly excited, practice the presentation in front of someone close to you.
My general advice is not to over-rehearse, so you don’t get bored with it, but it’s definitely good to run through it at least once, from start to finish. The longer your presentation is, the more flexibility you have during delivery—for example, taking a moment to find the right words. For shorter speeches or presentations (5 minutes or less), it’s helpful to know exactly how each slide starts, flows, and transitions to the next one

Quick tips and tricks:

• I love YouTube timers —sometimes the completely silent ones, and sometimes those with a music background. If you know you have 15-20 minutes for each of these steps and that a bell or the end of the music will signal when you're done, you can focus entirely on working on your presentation

• Each subsequent presentation will get easier.

• If you're younger and use TikTok, you can find some pretty good tricks there on how to make your presentation more engaging and interactive.

• In your notes, you can jot down not only keywords, but also modal expressions to help you smoothly transition from one topic to another.