For those of you who have an interest for seminars, motivational speeches, or even presenting for within your company, you may enjoy reading these tips on how to prepare. Every speaker is different, and all of these techniques may not apply well to everyone, however I have found that these work best for me.
I like to spend at least a month preparing but sometimes I'm not always given as much time as I would like. If you can, prepare as far in advance as you can.
1. Write out What You Want to Share.
This is just a way to get all of your thoughts out of your head and on paper so don't think too much about how you should say this or that differently. Try not to edit yourself at this point, and allow yourself to see exactly what it is you have to share.
2. Try and figure out which point(s) you are trying to make.
Read what you wrote and write out a list of 1 - 3 main points that you want your audience to take away after your talk. Some speakers may have more than that, but I try to narrow it down to no more than 3.
People will take away other points in what you're sharing, so don't think that those will be the only points that will be remembered. I've had certain parts of a story I shared that were just in my speech to lead to the major points and didn't think much of them. I'm always surprised when those moments in my story resinate with others; you just never know what people will take from it and really relate to.
3. Re-write your speech now that you know where it is you're trying to go.
This one is self-explanatory.
4. Read what you have written out loud and time yourself.
I personally like to stay around 20 - 30 minutes, however sometimes you are required to fill a certain amount of time. Don't let this stress you out. If it's too long, you'll have to make some cuts. If it's too short, get creative. Maybe begin by asking the audience some questions that will engage them. Doing so will fill in extra time and could help peek their interest even more.
5. After timing yourself and editing, record yourself reading what you have written.
This one is always a little weird for me because I don't like watching myself, and sometimes I think I sound funny, but this has helped me immensely. After recording myself, I'll listen to the recording several times from that point up until the day before the speech (I've even listened to it in the car on the way to the location).
This helps you become much more familiar with what you are sharing, and it will stick in your head which can help you avoid getting lost while speaking.
6. Write an Outline.
Now that you're pretty familiar with what you will be saying, make an outline with keywords or even a small sentence to help you remember different parts of your talk. Here's an example from mine:
-Made new friends
-One of the friends, Stevie
-[VIDEO] I play a short video in the middle of my speech
-Drove to Stevie's dad's house that day - had to face everyone
I usually wind up with 1 to 2 pages worth of notes like this. It really depends on how much you need the notes and how much time you have allotted.
7. Read your speech out loud to your "audience".
Imagine that your audience is in front of you. Hold your fully-written speech in front of you, and read it to them, trying to pull your eyes away from the paper as much as possible. Hold 2-3 seconds of eye contact with different people in your audience as much as you can. Do this several times until you begin relying on the paper less and less.
8. Take the fully-written speech away and only allow yourself to practice with the outline.
This is when you really find out how much you have this speech down so far. It's okay, you may still need to use your fully-written speech again a few times and go back to listening to your recording. Keep trying though, and eventually you will be fine with just your outline.
The best speech I ever gave was when I was asked to be a keynote for a leadership conference. That was a huge deal for me and would be the largest audience I would ever speak to. There would also be several people there who knew me.
It was a big deal, so I practiced all of the steps above until I was sick of doing it. I practiced so much that on the day of the speech, I didn't even need the outline. I may have glanced at it once or twice, but I don't think I even had to do that.
I was able to watch my audience cry, smile, tilt their heads, and really felt connected to them. It was so moving, and I could really feel that the room was captivated. After the speech, different people would come up to me wiping away tears, hugging me, and telling me bits of their story because they could relate to mine.
The more you practice and get this down, the more powerful your presentation will be. You can do this!
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