ย Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash
Picture thisโฆ
Youโve written your speech. Youโre satisfied with the flow of ideas.
Now itโs time to internalize your talk.
You begin practicing out loud. Five minutes into your rehearsal, your phone rings.
Ahh! You forgot to turn off your ringer!
But, you need to take this call.
20 minutes later, you return to your rehearsal. Where do you begin?
If you said, โAt the beginning of my speech,โ youโre doing what most people do. You start over from the first words.
15 minutes later, the dog starts barking. You need to let her out.
Whenย you return to your practice, where do you begin?
Most likely, return to the first words.
A Common Rehearsal Mistake
Iโm sure youโve picked up the pattern.
Rehearsing your speech is the only way you can internalize the material. Unfortunately, we live in a highly distractible world.
If you begin each practice at the start of your written material, the opening parts are going to get a lot of attention, but the remainder might not.
If youโve ever delivered a speech, or heard one that had a strong opening, but seemed disjointed or didnโt have the same energy toward the middle or end, this could be one of the culprits.
A More Effective Way to Practice
There is a more effective way to practice your speech so that each part gets equal attention.
Break your speech into โchunks.โ Depending on the length of your material, I like to break mine into 3 to 5 pieces.
For a 20 minute talk, I will typically break it into four.
Each time I begin, if Iโm interrupted, I make a note of where I left off. When I return to practice, I jump ahead to the next chunk.
This gives me the best chance to give equal weight to each part of the speech.
An Added Bonus
There is an added bonus to this method. Interruptions are not uncommon when we speak especially in an online environment. By using this practice method, youโre also training yourself to handle unexpected events.
If you want to give yourself the best chance of an impactful delivery from start to finish, use this rehearsal method. It will serve you and your audience well.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Evaluating the Delivery of Your Own Speech is Difficult. Why Do It Alone?
A big challenge to improving your speech delivery is the difficulty in evaluating ourselves. We are each blind to our strengths and weaknesses.
The best speakers use coaches to help them unlock their best and most authentic delivery style.
If youโd like to talk with Michael about how to deliver your speeches in the most effective manner, schedule your no-cost & no-obligation ZOOM call with him:ย
Michaelโs mission is to help leaders, managers and sales professionals communicate with more confidence, impact, and influence. This passion is born from his own communication difficulties early in his career.
Fortunately, he discovered that public speaking is like riding a bike, swimming or driving a car - itโs a learnable skill. Once he discovered this โsecretโ he became a voracious student of the craft. He took courses, studied some of the worldโs best speakers and storytellers and continues to study presentation and business storytelling skills.
He is hired by companies and organizations, leaders, managers and sales professionals, and TEDx speakers to help them become more confident, impactful and influential communicators.
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