How to prepare a speech in 6 steps
“A good speech should be like a woman's skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.”
Winston Churchill
During my trainings and in my prepared speeches from different events I tell the story of how I fell in love with public speaking. For this one there are two people outside the Toastmasters I have to thank:
Andrei - one of my former bosses - a fantastic and inspirational speaker who motivated me to go in this direction.
Răzvan - who received me with open arms in the Public Speaking Support Group, when I needed the most!
More than 8 years have passed since the beginning of my speaking journey and with each preparation, improvisation or public speaking coaching session I am learn something new.
If you read my blog there are a lot of articles related to Toastmasters (TM). However, my purpose for these materials is not to advertise the organization but to offer useful information to those who are not part of TM and they want to learn about public speaking.
So today I chose to talk about how to:
- Prepare a speech;
- Prepare an evaluation;
- Prepare an impromptu speech (yes, yes - and they are preparing ;) only you do it on fast forward)
6 steps for preparing a speech
1. The first and perhaps most important thing you can do is choose the topic. It is probably the most difficult. You can talk about yourself, hobbies, a discovery you made, a book, a movie, a technical topic, something that happen to you. Or if you are one of the lucky speakers, you get to skip this step because the topic was hand to you by a third party (by the boss, organizing stuff, HR, etc.).
2. Here comes the research - include Google searches, data verification (if applicable) must be from multiple sources, connections you could make with other topics. Why? It's simple, if you forget something you've prepared on the topic - you may remember a parallel to something that relates to it. To make it easier for you: write what you want to have in the speech on the post-it or piece of paper. I do not recommend that you write everything down and then learn it by heart because the unpredictable can happen and you may forget something. It will overwhelm you and it will be difficult for you to reorganize. Plus, repeat it out several times from the paper you may lose authenticity. But do what makes you feel more comfortable. Now go to step 3.
3. Structure. You already know what and about what you want to talk. Now let's get organised. Every good speech has an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Each done well, on its own and with beautiful transitions between them. Here I invite you to write down all the ideas you have on the topic on post-its - one post-it = one idea.
a. Introduction - it can be a quote, a question that has to do with the topic of the speech, a personal story. Tell them what you will tell them! Try to keep the red line as you go to the body and make sure you keep the audience with you, without losing eye contact with them.
b. Table of Contents - elaborates the topic, to make it easier try to put up to 3 stories, examples, summaries. Tell them! If you are going for one example, make sure you make the transition to the conclusion. If you deal with sub-themes - keep the transition and the red line between them by pointing them to the conclusion.
c. Conclusion - make a recap, review the 3 sub-topics, tell them some conclusions, either give them a tip or ask a question. Tell them what you told them! Make sure the ending give the "Je n'ais se quoi" that the audience takes at home.
Remember the post-its? Arrange them in the order you want them covered in the speech. The structure will flow easily.
4. Visual aids. You know what you want to talk about and the order in which you want to do it. You also know the approximate time you have at your disposal. Now is the time to think about whether you want to be on stage with allies. We can talk about a presentation, flipchart or props meant to highlight your words.
a. Whatever you choose, make sure you know when to introduce them into the discourse. Do not play with the remote control of the laptop or the markers all the time. Use them only when you need it, then put them aside. YOU are the star - not the props.
b. If you have a presentation - don't turn your back to the audience. Learn at home the order of the slide, by heart. Make a clean design that will not grab the audience attention from you. The remote control should be pointed to the laptop, not to the projection screen. It does not benefit you if you step between the projector and the screen. Even if you have a white blouse, it’s not easy to read on it ;)
c. If you choose to use the flip-chart and have limited time, draw the info before the speech or from home. Leave room or times to complete the minimum on the papers - if necessary. Always face the audience. Leave the marker, after you finish writing.
5. Repetition. It’s said that is the holly grail. Be mindful of the time. Especially if you're a beginner. Because when you have some experience, you will know what 5 to 10 or 15 minutes mean and how long can you speak for the slot. You will be able to have a coherent and compact speech in 3 minutes.
a. Go through ideas as you would do it on stage. I recommend using the Toastmasters Timing app because it has colour codes. These will help you figure out if you need to cut something or not from the speech in order to be in time.
b. When you start to repeat, make sure you include the props (no matter what you are using). The few seconds you spend taking a thing in your hand and showing it to the audience, if repeatead - when you count them, they turns into minutes faster then the blink of an eye. And in the limited time, it's good to know what, how and where the seconds are consumed.
c. Record video. Yes, it's hard to look at ourselves. But if it's important, you want to go well, to deliver a great speech. Certain movements do not benefit us. You need to know if you look like a giraffe on the stage when you raise your hands. Plus, you will realise if you are a static person or on the contrary, you move too much.
6. Collect feedback from your audience and incorporate what you can into your future success!
6 steps to prepare an evaluation
1. Thank the person who gives you their trust to evaluate her or him. Both you and the other person will feel good, internally.
2. Find out what are the things you should pay attention to, besides the classic ones. At least two days before evaluating. You can do this by asking the speaker! If there are topics you do not master, research them! In your feedback, at each constructive thing you need to say add a way in which the speaker can improve. Otherwise, it's just criticism.
3. During the speech, write down the keywords you liked. Also, note down and everything has to do with the things the speaker asked you to pursue. Where there is something that can be improved - the key word to improving it.
4. During the break, discuss the evaluation briefly with the speaker and ask if there are things he or she would prefer not to be said in front of the audience. Make sure you set them aside. It's about trust - and if someone doesn't feel comfortable hearing certain things in public - we owe it to them to do that.
5. Organise the evaluation speech. You can use one of the methods I described in a few previous blog posts. You can find them under the tag - feedback. My favorite is what I saw, what I heard, what I felt. Every time I say one thing I liked, and one thing that could be improved and how, of course.
6. Write as thoroughly as possible in the notebook or on the evaluation sheet that remains with the speaker. This way over 6 months, a year if is read, the reader will know what he could improved, but also what you liked. Hand them the sheet!
6 steps to prepare an impromptu speech
You would think that being an impromptu speech - it means you don't have the time to prepare and blurt out everything that comes to your mind. That's not the case, you always have 10 to 15 seconds (even if we talk about just taking a deep breath) for preparation.
Draw deep air in and carefully read the subject.
You have a memory, a story, a movie, a book - whatever the subject is - relate to that. You don't have - use the words in the statement to organise your speech.
Follow point 3 from "6 steps for organising a speech" - the keywords in the statement are the diagram.
Don't forget to move on stage, watch the audience and make sure you keep the red line of the speech.
End it with a recap or a question, to capture your audience.
Give thanks to the person who gave you the topics and offer the scene.
This article is inspired from the 8 years of experience in public speaking. But each person has its own recipe, there is no universally valid one. Do what suits YOU! However, experience and exercise are important. You want to take it this road - look for opportunities or a place to practice in front of an audience. Just one class is not enough. Not even if you practice at home in front of the mirror. It's a big step outside the comfort zone, but it comes with countless benefits. At interviews, pitches, negotiations, meetings - the confidence generated by the fact that you know how to speak in public will be felt by those around you. And soon, you will become an inspiration! :)
Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash
