3-Hour Presentation Plan, The: Prepare a Perfect Presentation in Less Than 3 Hours

by Andrew Lightheart

Plan a first rate presentation in three hours or less, quickly produce slides and handouts, and discover ways to deliver it calmly, confidently and capably.

Genres: Communication, Self Help

200 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2015

Reviews

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent workbook for creating a presentation in a hurry. It’s just as useful if you’re stretching the process over many weeks. (I doubt many could really do a good job in three hours unless they were already experienced enough not to need the book.)

There are just three main sections: Plan, Speak, and Extend. Each is then broken down into many clearly labelled subsections.

Planning

Planning is a straightforward, cyclical (revise, refine, repeat) methodology:
1. Who: Work out what you already know about your audience.
2. Action: I want then to X so that they can Y.
3. Past and Present: What questions, experience etc the audience may have of the topic - and the presenter>
4. Important: What matters to them? Explicitly address those points with your solutions. But beware the problem of knowledge.
5. Plan: Recap.


Image: Typical illustration

There are slightly different recipes for conference (specialist and non), project update, bad news, awareness-raising, and senior pitch.

Recipe for a conference presentation:
1. Start = 15% of time.
a. Set the tone: conversational and set boundaries.
b. Create curiosity: prompt questions, but don’t give all answers immediately. Ties in with boundaries: by the end of the presentation, you’ll know xyz.
c. Answer their biggest silent questions.
2. Middle: three to five chunks of: the x best, worst, myths, lessons wished I’d learned years ago…
3. End.
a. Summarise.
b. Recommend action.

Highlights

This book is particularly strong on:
• How to focus on what the audience wants and need
• Knowing what you want audience to do after
• The importance of stories, and how to find and use them (Context, Problem, Actions, Result)
• Physical techniques to reduce anxiety and improve your voice
• Timing, and the importance of practising out loud in general
• How to encourage and then answer questions

Conversation, Not Performance, so Beware PowerPoint

You don’t use visual aids in conversations, so they shouldn’t be the focus of a presentation, lest they distract.

A common fault is using slides for three purposes: handouts, script, and visual aids. If used, they should serve only one. Hand out any handouts, and talk from notes, not slides.

Any text on slides should be limited to keywords and the odd phrase, not sentences.

Lightheart explains many techniques for calming nerves, voice control, and for prompting questions.

Writing Style and Format

This book models what it promotes, even though a book and a presentation are totally different mediums.

It is written in plain English, in a friendly, personal, and reassuring style. Information is chunked, with headings, subheadings, bullets, and repetition to reinforce. It takes account of different working preferences, giving methods for worksheet, document, or flipchart.

Hooray for an Index

Of the three books about planning and giving presentations I’ve just read, worked through, and reviewed, this is the only one with an index!

More Resources

I couldn’t find the ones mentioned in the book. But there are others.

• andrewlightheart.com website
• Lightheart's YouTube channel

Pair this with...

I worked through this alongside Tim Stockil's Start With An Earthquake - see my review HERE.

They reinforced and contrasted each other well. Many of the key points are the same, but refreshed by being explained in a slightly different way. However good these sorts of books are, you have to tailor the advice a little, and having two sources actually makes that easier.

[Rahel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful book. It's written in a style that feels like the author is there coaching you personally. The tips are solid, and the premise actually works. A worthwhile read.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much that I made it into a presentation for my colleagues!

I liked the preparation part. I already do a lot of preparation in the same vein, researching my colleagues, understanding their work history, anticipating what questions they might have.

I appreciated the structured preparation process they had.

I liked how their view of presenting was around communicating and conversations, and NOT making a presentation as a performer.

WE’RE NOT ACTORS AT WORK.

(ONCE MORE FOR THOSE AT THE BACK ❌🕴️❌)

I do find it easier to create slide decks for presentations now. And I’m also more inclined to do them my way, rather than strive to fit in with how others at the company do it. Of course, if it is in my interest to fit in more, for a particular presentation, I will do just that. But I’ve found I actually have more impact with having a different approach.

[Samathy Barratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite it's small physical size, this book contains so much wisdom.
The author teaches practical presentation skills supported by years of work as a presentation coach.

The author's writing style is friendly, chatty and incredibly encouraging, this is a very easy book to read and will leave you feeling much better prepared for a presentation.

I suggest reading the book in full at first, but it's step-by-step style lends itself well to using as a guide while you're preparing a presentation.

I read this book, and then used it's steps to deliver a successful presentation at my work place.
It certainly improved my speaking skills, but what it really ensured was that the content of my talk was appropriate for the audience, and answered questions for each member before they needed to ask them.

I'll be using the steps defined here much more in the future.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

(With the caveat that I consider the author a good friend.)

This is an excellent guide to putting together a presentation quickly -- super practical, super friendly, super to-the-point. I've put it on my to-re-read shelf so I can use it in practice the next time I feel like putting a talk together :-)