Get the talk out of your head and onto your phone.

The idea

Being interviewed gets a story out faster than writing it. Go for a walk, open AI on your phone and answer one question at a time. Don't worry about structure yet.

Then pick up a pen. Print the draft notes, circle the few words that carry each slide and write in your own lines. That is where the talk becomes yours. Photograph the pages and AI turns your marks into one card per slide: the circled words big, a few words per point, and a line to land it.

Rehearse out loud. In voice mode, AI names each slide, you say it, and it tells you what you missed. The usual miss is the ending, which is why every card has a Land it line.

Your pen decides. AI does the typing. Circle the words that carry the slide and write in your own lines. Photograph the page, and the circled words come back big on your phone, with your line to land it.

Rehearse one slide at a time. AI names the slide, you say it out loud, and it tells you what you missed. Redo the slide that wobbled, not the whole talk.

How it works

1. Get interviewed on a walkStart two to three weeks out. Open AI on your phone, go for a walk and let it ask one question at a time: what happened, why it mattered to you, and what you want the room to do differently.
2. Choose the shape yourselfAsk for a few possible structures, then pick one. A single day told out of order works well: open on the afternoon's turning point, go back to the morning, and finish where you started.
3. Draft the notes, then print themOne set of talking notes per slide, each ending with a one-line bridge to the next slide.
4. Mark them up by handCircle the one to three words that carry each slide. Cross out what you would never say. Write in your own lines.
5. Turn the pages into cue cardsPhotograph the marked-up pages and ask for one card per slide: two to five words a point, your circled words big, one Land it line, and nothing that needs scrolling.
6. Rehearse out loud, then update onceHave AI keep a running list of changes while you rehearse, then apply them all to the cards in one go. Do at least one full run at your desk with the slides open. Voice-only rehearsal loses the thread.
7. Bring the day into itListen to the speakers before you. When a line supports one of your slides, message AI the quote, who said it and the slide number. Keep it to one line per card, give the full name and role the first time only, and check spellings against the program.
8. Leave something behindBuild a handout page before the talk, give it a short web address and put that on your last slide. Afterwards, give AI the transcript and your slides and have it add what you actually said and the questions from the room.

The example

Happy Paws Rescue is fictional. The page is real: one file that works offline, made to be opened on the phone you present with.

Open it on your phone: https://hub.aiimpacthub.com/guides/prepare-a-talk/cues.html

1. Card 1 · Word for wordAnything that must be said exactly, like an Acknowledgement of Country, goes in full.
2. Card 2 · A line to land itEvery card ends with one. Skipping the closing line is the most common miss.
3. Card 3 · Circled words, short pointsOne to three words that carry the slide, then two to five words a point. Prompts, not sentences.
4. Card 4 · A note to yourselfOne handwritten reminder, like telling it from the volunteer's side so it never sounds like a dig at the room.
5. Card 5 · A line from an earlier speakerOne line, on the slide it supports.
6. Card 6 · A demo told as a storyWhat happens and why, rather than a tour of buttons.
7. Card 7 · Numbers lockedThe same figure, written the same way, on every card.

Tap the clock when you start. The plan time on each card tells you when you are two minutes behind.

The sentences to type

One for each stage, in the order you will use them.

I'm preparing a [length] talk for [audience] at [event]. The topic is [topic]. Interview me to pull out the stories and ideas for it. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. Start with what happened, then why it mattered to me, then what I want the audience to do differently. Point out gaps and anything that sounds vague. Don't write the talk until I ask.

These photos are my talking notes with my handwritten changes. Turn them into phone cue cards, one per slide, as a single web page I can open on my phone, with Back and Next buttons, swipe, and a timer that counts up. For each card: two to five words per point, my circled words shown large, my handwritten notes kept, and one "Land it" closing line. Every card must fit on one phone screen without scrolling. Write each number the same way on every card. Where you can't read my handwriting, ask rather than guess. Use [Australian/British/US] English.

Rehearse this talk with me. Name each slide, let me say it out loud, then tell me briefly what I missed or could tighten. Keep a running list of changes to my cue cards. At the end, give me the list and update the cards.

[Speaker's name and role] said "[the line]" during [session]. Add it as one line to my cue card for slide [number]. Check the spelling of the name and role against the program: [link]. Keep the card to one screen.

Here is the transcript of my talk, my slides and my handout template. Update the handout with the key ideas as I actually said them, the stories I told, the prompts I demoed, and the questions from the room with my answers. Keep it to one page, in plain English with [Australian/British/US] spelling. Flag anything in the transcript you're unsure about rather than guessing.