Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

Friday's Digest #86

How to Prepare Yourself for The Most Important Lecture of Your Life

How do you prepare for the most important lecture of your life?
Use these 4 principles to transform it into something extraordinary.

April 19th, 2024

Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

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Preface
Main Article
Readwise Reader

Preface

This week, firstborn and secondborn were on vacation. So, we took the opportunity to embark on a trip to Washington DC 🏛️and New York City 🗽. You know, tourist stuff.

This newsletter is published while we're still on vacation (that's dedication for you 😃), so I'll wait until next week to share our experiences. One thing I will mention is the fact that we decided to drive our car 🚘 instead of flying there.

We love the freedom the car ride gives us as opposed to flying. Especially when thirdborn 👶 is becoming more challenging to handle on flights.

So, long story short, we had an 8-hour drive in a single day.

It's funny, back home, a 4-hour drive seemed too much, and now we did 8 hours pretty easily. I wonder if we’ll do 4-hour drives after we come back home.

This week, I found it difficult to respond to comments and messages on YouTube and social media. There were just so many.

I’m trying to respond to all of them, but some require a lot of time. And I don’t have time…

The two most common requests are from people preparing for a very important lecture and people studying for the USMLE under extreme conditions.

Spending time with them always leads to a dramatic impact.

In about 60 minutes, I transform their lecture into something great, and in 30 minutes, I can build an entire studying schedule under “impossible” conditions. It’s not magic. It’s just something I have a ton of experience in.

But since I don’t have time for it, more and more people are offering to pay me. But I don’t take their offer.

Instead, I’m releasing YouTube videos and newsletters packed with information I gathered over decades.

And today’s newsletter serves this exact purpose.

So, to all those who've asked for my assistance with an important lecture, start by following these principles.

Number 86!

Enjoy this one.

Main Article

There may come a time when you need to deliver the most important lecture of your life.

It could be a talk to secure your dream job, a keynote speech at a conference, or a presentation your boss asked you to give.

Whatever the lecture may be, it's the most important one you will ever give.

While each lecture has unique aspects, some principles are always the same.

In other words, pay attention to these principles, and your lecture will be excellent.

Consider it the secret recipe for a successful lecture.

(Well, I guess it’s not a secret anymore 😃.)

So, without further ado, here are the four principles to remember when delivering the most important lecture of your life:

🔵 Lights Out Principle

Have you ever attended a lecture where the PowerPoint didn’t work or the computer crashed?

It’s chaos. Everyone starts running around, making phone calls, searching for the right cable.

But the best lectures aren’t dependent on PowerPoint presentations.

The best lectures can be delivered with a whiteboard and markers (or a blackboard and chalk, if that’s your thing).

Do you know why?

Because when you write on a board, your lecture must be perfectly structured. Every word must be the right one at the right time.

It also means that your PowerPoint presentation is your greatest enemy.

You will rely on it, read from it, stumble on your words because of it, and feel obligated to go through all its slides. Terrible.

But when you give the most important lecture of your life, you must be prepared to deliver your ENTIRE lecture WITHOUT the PowerPoint presentation. You should know it by heart. EVERY SINGLE WORD.

I call it the “lights out principle”.

In other words, if the computer dies and you don’t have the PowerPoint presentation anymore, you should be able to deliver the entire presentation, and NOT BE BOTHERED BY IT.

How many times you should rehearse your lecture to reach this level? About 100 times. I’m not joking. 100 times.

🏡 Take home message: Be ready to deliver the lecture without the PowerPoint presentation

🔵 1-3-5 Principle

A superb lecture can be condensed into one sentence.

It should have ONE main message, THREE sub-messages, and be supported by FIVE mini-messages.

These messages should be repeated throughout your lecture (more on how to do this in my YouTube video).

How do you determine if your messages were effective? Simple: by the end of your lecture, your audience should be able to recite the messages from memory.

🏡 Take home message: Can you summarize your lecture in one sentence? How about three sentences?

🔵 The Blackboard Principle

We've already mentioned that the PowerPoint presentation is your greatest enemy.

However, great teachers treat PowerPoint as a blackboard.

They write on it, point to it, and incorporate animations. I'll show you how to do it in my YouTube video.

When used effectively, your audience will be fully engaged in your lecture.

🏡 Take-home message: Treat your presentation like a blackboard, not a static image.

🔵 The Safety Net Principle

People typically pay attention to the first 20-40 seconds of a lecture. Just think about the last lecture you attended. When was the first time you glanced at your phone? Probably after less than a minute.

Even with an excellent lecture, people lose track.

So, let’s assume a person in your audience checked their phone during your lecture. And they ended up missing an important point. This will lead to confusion and difficulty in “jumping back” on your lecture.

An excellent lecture should enable your audience to re-engage effortlessly.

How? With safety nets.

Start every slide by explaining its context, and end each slide with a summary. Every single one.

More details in my upcoming YouTube video.

🏡 Take-home message: Always assume your audience lost track. Your summaries should be designed to bring them back on track easily.

🚀 Enjoy a 60-day free trial of Readwise Reader

As doctors and scientists, we always struggle with PDFs: zooming in, scrolling endlessly, and squinting at tiny text.

I stopped using PDFs and started enjoying a clean, readable format with Readwise Reader.

But I knew my readers would like to test it out for a while before deciding to pay for it.

So, I contacted the Readwise team with a request: to extend their standard 30-day trial period to 60 days for the readers of Friday's Digest. They agreed!

Use this link to try Readwise Reader for two whole months.

You can watch this video to see my entire workflow for reading and writing manuscripts.

Enjoy!

Epilogue

If you received this newsletter from a friend and would like to join Friday's Digest, visit: https://newsletter.shaysharon.com

That’s it for this issue.

Hope for better times.

Shay

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