Before I delve into the title of this post, let me start off by saying I used to be just like most people – I had a complete and utter fear of speaking in public. In fact, when I was in high school I once gave a ‘speech’ in front of the student body that went so awfully bad (between the heat flashes, shakes, loss of words, and near collapse) that I committed at a young age to never venture in front of an audience again.

But as time went on, somehow things began to change. Where I once dreaded the thought of public speaking I came to love the results that great communication – the idea of changing lives for the better through your own words. As we all know, there is a special power behind the spoken word, and I’m glad that I can now say that I embrace this gift we’ve all been given.

But I digress. What say ye that we get down to the nitty-gritty? You want to know how to prepare a speech fast, and a good speech at that. I’m here to give it to you.

For many, the process of preparing a talk, speech, or seminar is more painful than passing a kidney stone. They spend hours of reading, writing, and editing just to come up with a few pages of words that will hopefully have an impact on listeners.
If you’ve ever gone through such a routine, I’m here to tell you there is a much, much easier way.

Simple Conversation

Let me ask you a question. When you’re at the office on Monday mornings, how long does it take you to ‘prepare’ what you tell your friends and peers?
Or when someone asks you, “How were the holidays?” how much time does it take you to start to answer?
If you’re like 99.9% of the world, these types of conversations are something you don’t think about.
There is no preparation. You simply are telling others about a snippet of your life.

So my question is why don’t we follow these same steps when we speak in a public setting?
Why do we add so much agony to the process of preparation?
Frankly, the whole thing makes no sense.

How to Burn 20 Minutes at the Snap of a Finger

Recently I was asked by a company to give a seminar to a business group. They told me I’d need to speak for about a half-hour, to which I said it would be my pleasure. The only problem, they said, was the fact that they were having this seminar just days away, which meant that I’d have little time to prepare.
Upon hearing this concern I told them to stop worrying, as I could easily talk about business for 3 hours that same night if they wanted me to.

How is such a feat possible?
Think about it, let’s pretend you’re a business owner and you went to dinner with a friend who asked you, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve done as a business owner?”
I bet you could sit there with your friend and go on and on for hours about different experiences you’ve had over the years and the lessons you’ve learned from each.
And again, you achieve all of this ‘discussion’ without a lick of forethought.

The Magic of Brainstorming Our Past

This same principal applies to the seminar I mentioned above. As soon as the lady asked me to participate, I sat down at my desk and thought about the 5 worst decisions I’ve ever made as a business owner. Within a few minutes, this brainstorming activity had produced over 10 examples of mistakes I’d made, all of which I knew would make for a great personal experience, and corresponding lesson, in the seminar.
Knowing I had only 30 minutes to speak, I chose the 5 experiences I thought would have the best impact and voila.. I was done. That was it. A 30 minute business seminar had been prepared in 5 minutes.

I relate this story because it’s applicable to every speaking opportunity (well over 200 events) I’ve had over the past 10 years. As soon as someone gives me a subject, I sit down and brainstorm experiences I’ve had that had anything to do with said subject, as well as the lessons learned from each.
With the average personal experience/story taking 3-6 minutes to tell, it’s easy to see just how quickly one can come up with 20 minutes of great speaking material.

Now I know some of you may be thinking, “But what if people don’t like my experiences?”
Let me tell you right now this simple rule of thumb that, if followed, will make your speaking days ahead much, much easier:

“If any experience in life has taught you a lesson…
it will likely teach others as well.”

So throw away the script, quit with the worries, and start relying on life and her many lessons folks. By so doing, I can assure you that not only will the process of speech preparation become much, much easier, but there will also come a day when you’ll anticipate the opportunity to change lives with your words.

About Marcus – Marcus Sheridan had his first book on Public Speaking published when he was 24 years old. Since that time, he has become a popular speaker and writer, and has been known to produce some pretty awesome articles on business, marketing, and life at his popular blog, The Sales Lion.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to:

Marcus the Sales Lion for his super guest post
L_Dan for the Pen photo thumbnail on flickr
Steve Jurvetson for the Fire photo on flickr

When I was young I wanted to be a good skier.
Not easy in England. We don’t have much snow and even fewer mountains. What to do?
I joined a ski club, which boasted the longest dry ski slope in England… a staggering 235m! I got to know all the best skiers in the club, had coaching, put in hours of practice, read books, watched videos and eventually I gave up my job and went out to the French Alps for a season.
For three years I worked in the UK during the summer and went out to the alps in the winter. Eventually I became a member of BASI, the British Association of Ski Instructors.

One day I was teaching a woman who was finding that skiing is not as easy as it looks. In her frustration she turned to me and said “it’s OK for you… you’re a natural”… I smiled.

“Everyone has the will to win; what is important is the will to prepare.”
Bobby Knight

So what’s the point of the story? The point is that we never look behind the final performance, we don’t see the hard work, the struggle, the soul searching, the self doubt. All we see is the final article.
When we see a professional public speaker, we can’t help but compare ourselves to them.
If you want to be good, you have to put in the time, you have to do the hard work… you have to practise.

Why you need to practise your speech

What’s the old saying? “It’ll be alright on the night.” Believe me, without practice it won’t be alright on the night.
The common reason we practise is to become familiar with the speech, the lectern and all the presentational elements of the speech, but there is another reason for practising… knowing that you have practised your speech will build up your confidence and help settle those nerves on the night.

“I only have stagefright when I did not adequately prepare. If I don’t take into account everything that could go wrong, I’m afraid that they will go wrong!”
Tom Ogden

Winging it will only increase your nerves… don’t do it.

Do Professional Speakers practise?

You bet they do, they practise like crazy.Tom Antion Professional Public Speaker and author of “Wake Em Up Business Presentations” gives us a feel for how much they do practise:

“I have a personal rule that I tell a story anywhere from 30 to 50 times before I tell it in a presentation. That applies to each part of my presentation whether it’s humorous or not.
When you practise parts of your talk that many times, a magical thing happens. All the ums and ahs disappear. Your volume and confidence increase. Your talk takes on a more conversational nature, which is exactly what you want.”

Take a look at that again, 30 to 50 times! You may not be a professional public speaker, but you do need to practise.

Getting ready to practise your speech…

Before you begin practising, there are a few things you need to prepare.

Your notes

This is not the post to talk about what form of notes you should use, but whatever notes you will use on the night… those are the notes you should practise with.

A lectern

On the night, you wll probably be using a lectern. Your notes will be on the lectern and your hands will be free, not holding your notes. So that’s how you practise.
OK buying a lectern is a bit much to ask… so buy a music stand with a solid top, about £30.
Make sure the angle and height of the stand can be altered so that you can find what works best for you.

How to practise your speech

You’ve got your notes, you’ve got a lectern… let’s get cracking.
Let’s start with the golden rule:
You need to practise your speech by simulating as near as possible the conditions you will encounter on the night.
If you can practise in the actual room using the lectern you’ll be using on the night… great. But that’s not likely, so you have to improvise.

Your notes

Put your notes on the lectern and stand back about an arms length.
Check out:

• Can you read your notes? is the text large enough?
• Is the lectern at the right height or do you have to drop your head to read your notes? Make sure that all you have to do to read your notes, is drop your eyes, not your head.
• Will you position your notes on the left and slide the finished sheet to the right? Practise and see what feels best.
• Are the sheets of paper sticking together because of the static? Do you need to roughen the sheets up a bit?
• Do you need to mark any pauses, gestures or changes in voice?

Don’t wait for the night… now’s the time to get your notes sorted!

Difficult words and consonant clusters

Are there any difficult words or combination of words that you struggle with?
If there are, get rid of them or change them to something easier.

Using your voice

Practise using your voice to add variety and interest to your speech.
If you make a statement, make it sound like a statement. If you ask a question, make it sound like a question.
Speed up, slow down, raise your voice, whisper.
Practise the voice music that keeps the audience interested and listening.

Pauses

If you ask a question you’ll want to pause for an answer, so when you practise… pause.
If the audience are laughing you’ll want to pause, so when you practise… pause.
You may want to add drama by pausing, so when you practise… pause.
I mark pauses on my notes with………
Try it, or use your own notation.

Gestures

Don’t forget your gestures.
They should fit naturally with the words, not look theatrical or mime like and they should add to the words or even replace words.

Eye contact

You probably won’t have an audience for your rehearsals but that’s not a problem. Practise looking round the room as though you did have an audience.
Deliver questions and punch lines to imaginary individuals in the audience. Get used to moving your head as you will for the actual performance.

Using props

Props can be a nightmare so I try not to use them, but if you are using props, practise using them.
Make sure you can get to them easily without interupting the flow of your speech and if the audience have to be able to see them…. make sure that they are big enough!

Give him a hand

With your notes on the lectern and you standing back… what will you do with your hands?
If you want to you can rest them lightly on the lectern, but that can give the impression that you are scared to let go of the lectern.
My advice? Stand back from the lectern and keep your hands in a neutral position, from that position you can make your gestures.
What’s a neutral position? Try and find one that works for you:

• Hands loose by your side.
• Both arms bent at the elbow and hands in front.
• One arm loose and one arm bent.

Practise until you find a position that looks natural and you are comfortable with.

After each practice

Can I suggest that during your practice, you don’t stop and alter your notes, get to the end and then revise your notes.
If you keep stopping it will interupt the flow of your speech.
What sounded wrong, which words did you struggle with… anything that comes to mind.
Then revise your notes ready for the next practice.
Don’t forget, there are no well written scripts only well rewritten scripts.

What about an audience?

Let’s face it… who wants to sit and listen to you practising your speech? Spouse? Kids? Maybe once maybe twice, but not every time.
My advice, get used to practising on your own and pretending you have an audience. You will soon become your own best judge of how the speech is going.
Perhaps when your speech is well polished you could ask some of the familly or friends to listen and give you some feedback, but not every time.

Time your speech

Even if you don’t have to speak to a given time, make sure that you time your speech. At some time in the future you will be asked to give a 15min or 20min speech, so get into the habit of timing all your speech practices.

Bottom line on practising your speech

That just about covers it for now. All you need to know about practising your speech.

A tourist stops a police officer on the street in Yew York City.
The tourist asks, “ How do you get to Carnegie Hall? ”
The officer says, “Practice, practice, practice.”

Bottom line?
The more you practise the more confident you will feel and the better your speech or presentation will be on the night. Don’t forget, to make it look easy… you have to work hard.

How do you practise your speeches?

Let us know how you practise your speeches. Leave us all your hints, tips and even your secrets in the comments below.
Look forward to hearing from you.

Credits:
My thanks and gratitude to Elana for her photo “Alice in waterland”