How to review a recording of your own talk

A method for recording your talk, auditing it against what the course teaches, and lifting it by rebuilding the weakest sixty seconds.

This lesson covers the last step before a room sees your talk. You become your own audience. You set up a camera or your phone, deliver the whole talk as if the room were there, and watch it back.

The lesson admits this is uncomfortable and ranks it first among the things you can do. You watch to audit the talk against what the course has taught, and you leave self-criticism aside. You look at whether the opening sparks curiosity, whether the throughline runs all the way through, whether the scenes land or slip into summary, whether there is a real peak and a clean ending, and whether the talk sounds like you.

Then you find the weakest sixty seconds, the stretch where you felt the energy drop, and rebuild only that part. The rest of the talk stays as it is. You fix that stretch, record again, and the whole talk lifts.

Key ideas.

The last step before a room sees a talk is to record the whole talk as if the room were there and watch it back.
The purpose of watching back a recorded talk is to audit it against the method used to build it.
After recording a talk, find the weakest sixty seconds, where the energy drops, and rebuild only that stretch before recording again.
A recorded audit checks whether the opening sparks curiosity, the throughline holds, the scenes land, the peak is real, the ending is clean, and the talk sounds like you.

Questions.

Should I record myself practising a presentation?

Yes. Recording the whole talk and watching it back is the last step before a room sees it. Set up a camera or your phone and deliver the talk as if the audience were there. It is uncomfortable. Watch it to audit the talk against what you set out to build, then rebuild the weakest sixty seconds before you record again.

What should I look for when I watch a recording of my talk?

Look at whether the opening sparks curiosity, whether the throughline runs through the whole talk, whether the scenes land or slip into summary, whether there is a real peak and a clean ending, and whether it sounds like you. Then find the weakest sixty seconds, where the energy drops, and rebuild only that stretch. Record again and the whole talk lifts.

Lesson 7.7 of From Story to Stage, a free written course by Aaron C. Leaman, published by Brighter Future. The terms it uses are defined in the glossary.