Don’t Build 40 Slides Before You Test This

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A 5-minute feedback habit to sharpen any presentation

You’ve spent hours building slides, tweaking the layout and choosing the perfect visuals.

But then, hardly five minutes into your presentation, you see it: a person in the second row checking their phone, someone staring blankly out the window.

The message doesn’t land. Questions go off-target. And after the presentation, nothing happens.

What went wrong?

The hard truth:

If your first two minutes don’t land, the rest of your presentation is an uphill battle.

We see this happen all the time. That’s why, in our workshops, we focus heavily on those first two minutes.

The first two minutes of your talk are the most critical. This is where you:

  • hook your audience
  • prove that what you’re saying is relevant to them
  • set direction: where you are taking them and why it matters

The best way to test if your foundation is solid?

What you need to do: pitch your topic to someone else. Not for twenty minutes, not even for ten. Just two.

Here is a simple way to get feedback that is specific and useful:

  1. The setting (1 min): Briefly tell your peer who the target audience is and what the context will be (for example: “I’m presenting to a board of directors in a formal meeting”). Ask that person to listen as if they were in that audience.
  2. The pitch (2 mins): Deliver the start of your presentation. Focus on your hook, your core message, and the direction of your talk.
  3. The feedback (2 mins): Do not defend. Do not explain. Just listen and write down what you hear.

You see? It only takes five minutes in total!

One crucial warning: don’t make the most common feedback mistake.

Do you want useful feedback? Then stop asking: “How was it?”

Most people are polite. If you ask “How was it?” or “Did you like it?”, they’ll likely say “It was good!” or “I liked the energy.” They don’t want to come across as mean or overly critical. But it doesn’t help you improve.

To get truly valuable insights, you need to ask better questions.

Instead of asking for an opinion, ask for impact.

Try one of these three questions instead:

  1. “What’s the main message you heard?” 

This is the ultimate clarity test. If they repeat your intended main message, you’ve succeeded. If they focus on a minor detail, your message is getting lost.

  1. “What do you think I want the audience to do or decide?” 

If the listener can’t name your goal after two minutes, your audience won’t be able to either. This helps you check whether your purpose and call to action are sharp enough.

  1. “What is one thing I could improve for clarity or impact?” 

By asking for one thing, you make it easy to be constructive without turning the conversation into a full critique session.

The result?

You will be surprised by how much you can learn from feedback on your first two minutes.

Looking for a refresher on what to say in those first two minutes? You can read our earlier article on pitching (‘How to pitch your idea’). Because the best start to any presentation is a pitch.

So, now you know what to do for your upcoming presentation: 

Grab a colleague, set a timer, and fix the foundation first.

Don’t wait until you’ve built 40 slides to realise your opening doesn’t work.

Picture by Gael Kazaz.