How to Speak - a Sketchnote on Creating Presentations That People Want to Hear

And why I like paper over digital sketchnoting

May 26, 2023

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Closeup of the sketchnote that appears further down in the text of this article. The heading reads How to Speak, MIT Lecture. There is a small black ink cartoon sketch of professor Winston on the upper right. Handwritten text reads in part: Start with a promise, cycle around the topic, put a fence around your idea, ask a question and wait 7 seconds for answers; verbal punctuation. — Image by Author

The other day I read this question on Mastodon from Austin Govella:

What should you put on the last slide of a presentation?

One commenter, Jorge Arango, recommended a video called How to Speak, from a presentation given by Patrick Winston, an MIT professor who passed away in 2019. I wrote my answer to the slide question before watching the video, saying I thought the last slide of a presentation should be some kind of call to action.

How would you have answered?

After watching the video, which is general in nature but covers many universal principles, I realised that while what should go on the last slide of depends in large measure on the aim of the presentation, there are some things you should never say when trying to be an interesting, informative, persuasive presenter, or, indeed, as the last thing you say when trying to convince someone of something in general:

Too much
Thank you for listening
Thank you in any form at all!

While watching the — admittedly long — video, I created this rough sketchnote:

How to Speak - a Sketchnote on Creating Presentations That People Want to Hear

And why I like paper over digital sketchnoting

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