When I was ten, my childhood friends dared me to ride my bike down steep and winding Garfinkel’s Hill with no brakes and no hands. I took the dare, lost all the skin on my left knee, and for the first time saw the whiteness of bone.
Riding your bike down a steep hill with no brakes and no hands is thrilling. So is winging it in front of an audience. Both will get your heart pumping. But neither will be your best and safest path to success.
Squeezing the brakes and holding on for dear life won’t win you any prizes either, in biking or presenting. Memorizing every word and clinging to the lectern will cramp your style and make you inaccessible.
Try to find the middle ground, the tipping point between total control and winging it. Rehearse enough to feel comfortable with your content and flow. Memorize the start and the finish, but trust yourself to explain what you know in the middle. Have examples in mind to illustrate your points, and effective transitions as you move from slide to slide. But keep your talk conversational.
Find the balance between two extremes: rigid control and wild abandon.