Sharing Research in Seven Minutes or Less

Shawn Gerard, Operations Coordinator for Epicenter Innovation, presented a COEM talk at the Colorado Emergency Management Association Conference in February 2022. He delivered a seven-minute talk entitled “Riding Easy: Rideshares, Evacuations, & Populations with Access & Functional Needs.” The presentation was derived from the capstone project of Epicenter Innovation’s Visionary Program, an early career program designed to allow a team of young professionals to work on a real problem in the emergency management space.

When I applied for the COEM talks, I had just finalized the research poster that I worked on with Epicenter Innovation’s Emergency Management Visionary Program. I submitted an abstract for a 7-minute talk and figured I had months to iron out the details. Fast forward to two months out: I finally began working on my slide deck. Distilling the hours of research I did with the Visionary Program into a 7-minute talk format was not hard (I had to do it in 5 for IAEM). What was hard was constructing a compelling story while communicating all the vital parts of the program I was proposing.

Luckily, I showed my slide deck and rough outline of the talk to my coach (Epicenter’s CEO & Founder, Christopher Tarantino). Chris is a veteran of the keynote stage with years of experience on the Colorado Emergency Managers Association Speaker Committee, all while working on his Certified Professional Speaker credential. Simply, you could say I had some expert guidance. Chris walked through my slides and found a story in the information. He helped me develop “bookends” for my talk. I once spewed off problems, information, and solutions, ultimately ending with a “why this is important” closer. I now had a narrative. With this guidance, I was able to open my talk with a clear metaphor showing how millions of Americans with Access & Functional Needs are impacted disproportionately by disasters. After proposing my solution, I was able to call back to this metaphor and communicate how my solution could create a better world.

Here are the main takeaways from my first “TED-style Talk” delivered to an audience of a couple hundred people:

• Story Centric: People love stories. They are more compelling and communicate ideas more readily. Infuse a story or narrative when you can. This idea came up again in conversation with Doug after our talks!
• Slide Design Matters: Slides are essential. Make sure they communicate your message but also complement your talk. They cannot be text dense or distracting, especially in 7 minutes.
• Practice Until It Is Second Nature: I practiced this talk not as much as I should have, but I knew the material better than anyone else. This was evident during the practice session. I got up on stage, and it all came out on time without missing any of the details. I would have felt less confident if I needed cue cards or was worried about missing important points or phrases.
• It Was Addicting: Seriously. I had considered doing a breakout session (45-90 minutes), but the thought was intimidating. A 7-minute talk in front of 200+ people was intimidating, but you can survive anything for 7 minutes! So selling your idea to 200+ industry experts in just 7 minutes was very rewarding, and I’m now tuning up a talk for IAEM this year!

If you want to hear more about my talk or are thinking about a 7-minute TED-style talk yourself, connect with me on LinkedIn!