Speaking can be stressful. Think about it. You are speaking in front of strangers. You are the only person talking for up to 45 minutes (continuously). Will you forget something? Will you stumble over your words? Will the audience be able to tell that you are nervous? Those are just a small percentage of the thoughts that could be running through a speaker’s head moments before he or she takes the stage. All these thoughts can cause you to bounce around between different aspects of your speech and leave you unorganized. So let’s talk specifically about organization… not just with organizing your speech but organizing the different aspects that go into preparing a stellar talk.

I’ve seen some people find out that they have to give a talk and then immediately go into writing their speech. They may write it in the order they want to present it, or they may just jot what immediately comes to mind. Others may not even write a speech, but simple thoughts. But before any of the actual development of your speech starts, you need to ask yourself: What do I want the audience to walk away with? It’s a huge question that can make or break you. Honestly, it’s a question that should remain relevant from start to finish. If you don’t know what you want your audience to walk away with or if you don’t know what actionable items you want to leave them with, then you’ll be talking without your message landing. Asking yourself that simple question should be the first thing you do before anything else. You may not be able to answer it immediately, but you should take your time to sit down and brainstorm and come up with a legitimate answer or answers.

We still aren’t ready to write our speech yet, but we are making progress. Next up, I want you to think about three supporting ideas that can help you drive home your main point to your audience. These three supporting ideas can build on one another, or if you are bold, they can be totally separate. But they still need to be relevant to one another. Your audience will need to be able to follow along as you take them on a journey, and it shouldn’t go over the heads. If you are dealing with a complex topic, then you need to do your best to break it down to the basics or really consider changing your topic.

Now we proceed in to actually writing our speech. This really comes down to the speaker’s comfortability level. So, ask yourself, do you feel comfortable writing your entire speech out and preparing that way? There isn’t a right or wrong way, but there are some ways that are more effective than others. One that I like to employ is to write only parts of my speech out and then implement storytelling into it. We all have stories that lessons, or teachable moments that we should share and that can be learned form. If you choose to go with the storytelling route, then before you write your entire speech or parts of it, you need to take time to vet your story and see if it’s relatable and if it can complement your topic.

When it comes to the organization of your speech, I usually suggest keeping things simple. With that being said, the most standard and well proven way to go about organizing your content is to start with your Introduction. Depending on how long your talk is, you can have anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes to reel your audience in and get them hooked. In another one of my earlier tips, I talked about how memorizing your content shouldn’t be the way to go. But when it comes to your introduction, this is one part where I can suggest that you want to know word for word what you want to say. Maybe not memorize everything to a T, but you should know exactly what it is you want to say. Remember that first impressions are key, and this is your time to set everything up! From there a simple Introduction - Point 1 - Point 2 - Point 3 - Conclusion system normally works.

Keeping things organized from start to finish when developing a speech is the best way to keep your stress levels low and your overall message potent. Remember, organization doesn’t just mean organizing your speech. It also means organizing the way you go about completing different steps, developing content and practicing. You will eventually find your groove and when you do, that’s when you begin to touch the masses!

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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