Ernest Hemingway famously said, “Write drunk. Edit sober.” While we don’t condone working on a presentation drunk, it’s crucial to remember how important editing is to the process in general. Giving a presentation without editing it first is like publishing the first draft of a book. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to look through your presentation multiple times before you consider it completely finished.
Cut the Clutter
Your foremost goal when editing a presentation should be to simplify as much as possible. Cut out the clutter. Remove anything superfluous or unnecessary. Your main points will come across much more effectively if you cut out anything that unnecessarily complicates them. Make things as simple as possible.
Start by looking for simple redundancies. It’s good to repeat main ideas for emphasis, but make sure you’re not overly repeating points; avoid beating your audience over the head with a dead stick. Don’t go overboard with the repetition. Also, cut out unnecessary modifiers– words like very, totally and really. Unless those words are adding something specific to the meaning of the sentence, you should remove them.
Leave it Alone
A common mistake people make when beginning the editing process is forgetting to let the material sit a while before going back through it with a fine tooth comb. Make sure you take a break from the material; let it sit for a day or so before you look through it again. If you go straight from producing to editing, you’re likely to overlook many common, easy-to-fix mistakes.
Also, try to get other pairs of eyes on it. Send it to someone you trust, whether that be your mom, friend or co-worker. Get it into the hands of someone who’s never seen it before, and ask them to look over it carefully. It can also be helpful to look through a hard copy of your presentation with pen in hand, ready to physically cross things out and tweak this and that.
Act like an Audience Member
Before you begin the editing process, get yourself into the mindset of an audience member. Approach your editing from the perspective of your audience. Make sure you’re writing for that audience in particular. Tweak any wordage that seems unimportant or cumbersome. Remove all jargon, and write in an active verb tense rather than a passive one whenever possible.
Above all, be aware of your average audience member while you edit. Remember that they’re the most important element of your presentation. If it fails to resonate with them, there’s no point in giving the presentation at all, so remember that when you are in the process of editing.
Even if you decide to work on your presentation after a couple of drinks (we won’t tell anyone!), make sure you edit it in the most sober of minds, just like Hemingway recommends.
