When making a Tiny Talk, what should you do first?
The thing you shouldn’t do first is make your slides. That part should actually come later. It’s critical that you figure out what story you want to tell, and how you want to tell it, before worrying about the slides that play behind you as you talk. Slides are just there to support the talk visually – they shouldn’t steer it.
So, start by figuring out what you want to say.
Then, practice saying it until there’s some level of consistency. It’s highly recommended that you time yourself, and not move on from this step until you start hitting times that are in the same ballpark as each other, i.e. 5 minutes and 40 seconds one time, then 5 minutes and 25 seconds the next time, etc. etc.
Finally, once you get to that point, and (ideally) only when you get to that point, THEN you should work on assembling the slides.
Slides can then be assembled like “checkpoints” for each particular moment / plot point in the story. Each time you story progresses, you can add a new slide. This way, your slides act as reminders of where you should be at in your story at different points within your talk. This makes them act as a memory aid and ultimately will help your talk stay on track from start to finish.