Lightning Strikes: How Giving Lightning Talks Has Made Me a Better Communicator

By David L. Caruso | Senior Member

As with every form of communication, there is a shorter version of the presentation out there: the lightning talk. The presenter prepares 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. You may know this format by various names, including the trademarked name Ignite Talk, which may already be happening in your city. Professional communicators can practice several important skills by participating in this format: demonstrating passion for a topic, including just the most important information within a limited amount of content, and—the one I struggle with most—integrating the verbal with the visual.

When I first heard of the lightning talk format at the STC Summit in Sacramento 2011, I was intrigued. I had always heard about the elevator speech and felt confident that I could convey a clear message in a short amount of time. Well, the lightning talk is a unique way to distill the essence of a presentation into five minutes of fantastically focused fun.

For my first time presenting I chose to talk about the origin of ideas. The origin of that presentation was a conversation at the Sacramento STC Summit where my friends had visited San Francisco and returned with the one thing I absolutely needed from the City by the Bay: sourdough bread from Boudin Bakery. When they asked why I wanted that bread from that bakery, I informed them that the reason the bread is so good is that every batch includes a starter made from the previous batch going back all the way to the 1800s. So in essence you can still get a piece of that bread’s history today, its origin. Oh, and it is quite tasty.

In the three lightning talks I’ve prepared, I have been able to incorporate design ideas, typography, music, and inspiration. I’ve also informed audiences of the importance of Ginny Redish and Erwin Steinberg to the history of technical communication in the U.S. The idea for each new talk usually comes to me while at a conference talking with my peers and seeing what they present. I am currently working on a lightning talk to explain important tenets of professional communication using classic movie quotes. This idea came to me when the anniversary and cast reunion happened for the classic comedy "The Princess Bride," and I thought of the poor children who had grown up without ever seeing that film, let alone seeing it enough times to recite its many quotable lines. In my lightning talks, I challenge myself to explore new ways to present familiar information because we all need reminding about things we should know.

Passion for Your Topic

Why is the lightning-talk format so important for technical and professional communicators? First, these talks are fun. In talking to peers and friends, I am always struck by how much passion they have for their work. When delivering a lightning talk, or any presentation really, you need to focus on a subject about which you are passionate. It harkens back to the saying "If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life." This is not to say that preparing and delivering a lightning talk isn’t a considerable amount of work—quite the opposite. Delivering meaningful content in such a short time means that you have to believe every word you say has value to those listening. The value lies in the ability of the presenter to convey that concept in such a short time. Many in our profession do not practice that tried and true principal of efficient communication: give readers only what they need to accomplish the task. Well, in a lightning talk there is no room for filler or fluff. Every word and slide counts.

There is also a workplace benefit to the practice of presenting such a brief amount of content on topics you are passionate about. When your coworkers are preparing to present their work at meetings or conferences, you can serve as a resource or mock audience for them. Consider viewing their presentation and rating them on the passion they have for the topic. Where did the presentation fall down? Chances are it was an area where the presenter has lost enthusiasm for the content. Recommend that the presenter cut that content from his or her presentation in favor of something better or else make the presentation shorter.

Content Distillation

When working with subject matter experts, communicators often hear that all content must be included in the document. However we know that what the customer or reader really wants is the least amount of information necessary to achieve their task. In scientific terms, I describe this process as distillation rather than dilution; that is to say, we need to think of the shorted version as a more concentrated version of the whole rather than watered down. Working on the lightning talk format helps communicators practice this distillation process on a topic dear to their hearts, which makes it easier to explain the benefits of distillation to subject matter experts (SMEs).

When designing content to be displayed on ever-shrinking devices, it helps to have SMEs who see the value in getting just the core message across. Communicators are editing not just to cut excess words but also to concentrate the content into the most powerful story we can to benefit the reader.

Visual-Verbal Integration

Some have asked me if I feel constrained by the fixed format of the lightning talk. What I have learned is that the presenter must embrace the structure and see it as a complete canvas. All 20 slides and all five minutes must be filled with meaningful content, or your masterpiece is not complete.

Once you have the pieces, you need to arrange them into a linear narrative that you can deliver in five minutes with 20 slides. Many technical communicators struggle with the integration of the visual and verbal. By forcing yourself to dedicate the same amount of time to each slide and move at a steady pace, the lighting talk format is the perfect way to improve your skills at effectively matching what you are saying to what the audience is seeing. It is a helpful way to practice the minimal or no-text slide concept. Without taxing the cognitive skills of the audience to both read and listen, they are free to absorb the visual while actually listening to what you are saying and move their attention between you and the screen whenever they choose.

I have found one of the best ways to prepare this content is to write out your content chunks on post-it notes and print out your visuals. This way you have an analog means of moving content around while determining the best order. Once you have determined the order and all your content and visuals are paired you can begin practicing your timing to deliver the content with the visuals in the allowed time. This takes many iterations. Rather than memorize a script, you want to hit just a few key points per slide. If you can do that for all of your slides, then the components are in the order you want, and you have the appropriate amount of content per slide. Now you are ready to put your presentation content on slides and, using just a few notes, practice out loud in an empty room or in front of friends or family. You will most likely not have advance knowledge of the setup of the room in which you will be delivering the presentation, so it is best to prepare looking at the slides as they advance and also with the slides running behind while you face the audience, avoiding turning around to look at those slides so that you can stay facing the audience.

The entertainment value of the lightning talk should also not be completely discounted. TED and Ignite talks have value as content from which their publishers can extract profit. If you can inform and entertain customers who use your product, you may just become more valuable to your employer. With constant demand for short informative videos, mastering the skill of delivering attention-grabbing content quickly is required of any practicing technical communicator. The media channel options available to our users is constantly evolving. With the advent of an Internet of Things, the possibility of a smart appliance needing a short help video to explain how to perform a function is nearly a reality. Who will write that content and determine which visuals will be appropriate within that video? Well, if you have honed your skills delivering five-minute lighting talks with great graphics, that person can be you!

David L. Caruso works as a health communication specialist for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Since 2008 he has been instrumental in developing the NIOSH social media program, which now boasts more than 20 channels with over 200,000 followers and friends. David has presented case studies, progressions, and most recently, lightning talks at STC Summits. He enjoys the fast, five-minute lightning-talk format and encourages communicators to give it a try and see why they are some of the most well attended and most fun sessions at the Summit. You can find David @dccd on Twitter or email healthcommunicator@gmail.com.