Converting a dense document into a script I can actually say out loud, the step that mattered

If you've ever tried to read your own written report out loud and realized it sounds nothing like a human talking, this is for you.

Written and spoken are different languages and I didn't respect that until recently. Now when I need to turn something I wrote into something I present, I don't ask it to "make slides." I ask it to translate.

The instruction that made it click: "Rewrite this as if I'm explaining it to one person across a table. Short sentences. No lists read aloud. Where the original stacks three facts, pick the one that carries the point and drop the other two into a single aside I can skip if I'm short on time."

That last part matters because presenting is mostly deciding what to leave out. The written version wants to include everything. The spoken version has to choose.

What comes back is a spine I can rehearse from, not a paragraph I'd robotically read. Then I mark where I'd pause or ask the room a question.

How do you make written stuff sound like a person when you have to present it?