While I'm not a frequent lecturer or panelist, I've dipped my toe in on occasion, and it's about the same. My trick is to basically have slides for one of three things - Jokes, examples where nessassary, or reminding me of points I need to hit. Because I'm really shitty for just kinda ending up on a wandering ramble about something completely different and wasting 15 minutes before I remember what I'm doing.
My panels are virtually unscripted. The final version of American Tezukas had no script, just a playlist of videos, and I improvised my introductions and commentary. That being said, that really only works for clip based panels. For the new Jackson panel, I am very heavily (comparatively) scripted. I have slides with all my quotes and plot points on them, and then a set of notes with my jokes on them to help guide me through them.
I make sure I know my material inside and out, and I'll often make an outline to ensure that I hit key points in a logical order.
I tend to use slides as summaries, reminders, additional information, or demonstrative items.
"Rehearsed improvisation" is a pretty good way to think of it. Have a general idea of the points you want to get to and the order in which you'd like to get to them, and then go.
Along those lines, never present on a topic you aren't an expert about. If you're lecturing at depth "n", you have to understand the topic "n + 1" to be able to improvise effectively.
I can lecture on NTP without preparation. I can lecture on NTP time slewing algorithms with preparation.
I can lecture on foreign anime openers without prep. I can't lecture on the nuances of Italian openers beyond the superficial without prep.
Along those lines, never present on a topic you aren't an expert about. If you're lecturing at depth "n", you have to understand the topic "n + 1" to be able to improvise effectively.
This is the secret to not having a disastrous year like I did back in 2012(?). I got cocky and went into subjects I loved but didn't know enough about (there were other things that made that year disastrous, but that was primary). With this years panels, I'm finding it difficult to fit everything into an hour, which is why I'm confident in all of them.
Comments
I tend to use slides as summaries, reminders, additional information, or demonstrative items.
"Rehearsed improvisation" is a pretty good way to think of it. Have a general idea of the points you want to get to and the order in which you'd like to get to them, and then go.
I can lecture on NTP without preparation. I can lecture on NTP time slewing algorithms with preparation.
I can lecture on foreign anime openers without prep. I can't lecture on the nuances of Italian openers beyond the superficial without prep.