The Day-Before Checklist

What this is for

The day before a talk isn't the time for more rewriting. It's the time to check what's already true: you know your open cold, your close is set, your logistics are handled. This guide is a short, structured pass to confirm you're ready, not to find new problems the night before you speak.

When to use it

Use this once, the day before you're on stage, after rehearsal is otherwise done. If this pass turns up something big, that's useful information - better to know tonight than to find it out on stage. But this isn't the place to start rewriting sections.

The prompt kit

I speak tomorrow. I want a short readiness check, not a rewrite session. Here's my talk structure: [paste from guide 20]
Here's my open and close: [paste from guides 21 and 22]

Ask me to say my open and my close from memory, right now, and paste back what I actually said. Then tell me plainly: is it close enough to solid, or is there a real gap I need to close tonight?

Walk me through my logistics, one at a time, and have me confirm each: What's my exact time slot and am I clear on it? Do I know if there's a lectern, a clicker, a mic, a countdown timer I'll be able to see? Do I have my materials - slides, handouts, any prop - ready and backed up in two places?

Give me the three things most likely to throw me off tomorrow, based on everything I've told you about this talk and this event, and one line each on how to handle it if it happens.

What good output looks like

A good readiness check is honest about small gaps without manufacturing big ones the night before a talk. If your open, said from memory, is close to what you wrote, the AI should say so plainly and move on - not find things to fix for the sake of finding them. The logistics walk should surface anything you genuinely haven't confirmed, not things you already know. And the "three things" list should be specific to your actual talk and event, not generic stage-fright advice.

Watch out for

Turning this into another editing pass. If the check surfaces something in the content itself, note it and decide with a clear head whether it's worth a small fix tonight or something to leave alone and handle live. Don't start rewriting your close at midnight.

Skipping the out-loud part. Typing your open from memory and saying it out loud from memory are different tests. Say it out loud, then paste what you actually said - don't just describe how it went.

Using this the night before instead of the actual day before. Give yourself a full day of buffer after this check, not a few hours. If something real comes up, you want time to handle it calmly.