A couple months ago, I was giving a  7 minute speech presentation at my local Toastmaster Club. If you had been there listening, you would have seen and heard me lose my place 3 minutes into the speech. Awkwardly, I struggled to get back into the speech.

Eventually I did, but long pauses and losing my place are not acceptable in speeches. Why did this happen?

I had failed to properly practice and internalize the speech. There is a difference between a memorized speech and an internalized speech. When your speech is memorized, you know it word for word. You can rattle it off. Problem is that sometimes it may sound memorized. Also, if you forget just one sentence or get distracted, you may find yourself in my situation: struggling to remember the next line.

A better way is to internalize your speech. Here you know it so well, it is a part of you. If you were asked to share about a good experience from your last vacation, you could very easily. Why? It’s internalized. It’s part of you. Every time you deliver it, it may be slightly different, but it comes out natural and you can focus on delivery.

Over the next several days, you’ll be learning several ways to internalize your presentation so you can deliver it smoothly and completely.

Speech Preparing Tip #16: Have your presentation prepared and ready 3 days before you give it.

Imagine you have a presentation to give on Friday. Set a deadline to be ready to give it on Tuesday. Why?

• As you run through the presentation a couple times over those three days, your subconscious mind will internalize the speech.
• New ideas will pop up, allowing you to optimize the presentation.
• Research shows that sleeping on information after we’ve learned it helps put it into long term memory.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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You've grabbed the audience's attention and are connecting with the audience. What next?

Speaking Tip #20: Preview the Speech
 

Give the audience a brief overview of what you will be saying.

You will learn how to set goals in three simple steps.

You will learn why drunk driving is such a problem and what we can do to help.

Consider phrasing the overview in "You" terms. Not "I will share", but "You will learn."

Previewing the speech will help your audience remember it and keep their attention.
 

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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You’ve heard of writers block. The dessert of writing where a writer stares at the piece of paper waiting for a flash of inspiration.

Same thing can happen when writing a speech. How do we overcome it? Here is what I have found helpful.

Read for 10 minutes on the subject at hand.

Fresh ideas will usually get the juices flowing. Read an article or two online. Caution: Set a timer so the Internet does not suck you into a two hour detour of wasted time.
Stand up and start delivering your speech.

Running through what I have out loud almost always helps the ideas to start coming. If I have nothing yet, I’ll just start talking.

Table the speech till your next optimum work time.

Everyone has a time of day when they are the most alert and productive. Mine is anywhere between 5:00 and 11:00 A.M. That is 2-3 times more productive than 7:00 to Midnight.

Get back to the basic speech formula

A good speech follows this formula:

Here are the facts.

Here’s what they mean.

Here’s how it applies to you.

Take a walk

A change of scenery and getting moving will help rearrange our thoughts.

Every person preparing speeches gets stuck at times. Use these speech writing tips to help you break the speech writers block.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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I used to waste a lot of time preparing my speeches because I went about it the wrong way. When you are preparing a speech, what is your first step? Do you brainstorm a topic, make an outline, or research?

That’s what I used to do. Then I learned from the World Champions of Public Speaking (Craig Valentine & Darren Lacroix) that I should apply this speech writing tip.

Speech Preparation Tip: Find your Chris & Jesse and write the speech to them.

Recently I spoke  to about 50 energetic Jr. highers. Before I even chose the topic, I selected Chris and Jesse. These were two individuals that would represent the audience. Sometimes you may focus on two real people you know who will be in the audience. Other times you’ll do some research to get a good idea on who they are.

Why two? Two will help you get a good representation of the entire audience. To help you get to know these two individuals, ask these questions. If I don’t know the answers, I will contact the meeting planner or do research.

• What are their ages?
• What is the level of education?
• What are their careers?
• What problems do Chris & Jesse have?
• What are they interested in?
• What are their aspirations
• What will help Chris and Jesse?

Once you have a good picture of  your Chris and Jesse, prepare your speech for them. I will mentally visualize them sitting across the table from me in my office. I write my speech to them. Every story, illustration, fact, etc must relate to Chris and Jesse!

Is this powerful?

I shared this technique with a friend of mine who teaches at the college level and is asked to speak internationally. He said, “Arlen, the first time I tried it, the results were amazing. I really felt like I connected and received great feedback.”

By focusing on one person it allows you to give a specific speech tailored for that audience. The result? Great interaction and a keynote that hits home.

Here are some final wrap up notes.

• Select two people who represent the audience.
• Ask yourself, “What would I say if it was just Chris and Jesse in the room?”
• Tailor the speech so it is focused, but yet remember the diversity of people in the room.
• Prepare for one, but appeal to all

Before you head to Google for research or brainstorm a topic, find your Chris and Jesse. You’ll speed up the process and create powerful speeches that connect.

(C) Arlen Busenitz Speakinginfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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My friend Rex, a pro speaker, said, Make them laugh, make them cry, leave them on a high.

Unfortunately, many speakers will instead:

Make them laugh, make them cry, leave them with a question/answer session.

What is wrong with this?

• First, The last part of your presentation stands out to the audience. An off topic question may stick out and not your main point.
• Second, your presentation ends on a low note. Question and answers sessions tend to be low energy, not high energy.
• Third, people may be less likely to buy your products. They may be all pumped up by your closing, but after 15 minutes of questions and answers they are ready to leave.

What's the solution?

Best way handle Q & A in Your Presentation

Let's say I am giving a 45 minute talk with questions and answers. I may structure it this way.

30 Minutes Speech – 90% of speech

10 Minutes Q&A

5 Minutes – Final 10% of speech

The final 5 minutes will leave them on a high and they will walk out with my points fresh on their minds.

During that final 10% I will review and then tell a story or two to drive home the main point. Another tactic is to create anticipation for a story or idea in the first 30, and then resolve it in the final 5 minutes.

However you structure your presentation, remember Rex's advice and Make them Laugh, Make them Cry, and Leave them on a High.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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You've grabbed attention with a great opening. The audience now has a brief idea of what to expect. It's time to share why they should listen.

Public Speaking Tip #21: Share compelling reasons to listen.

If you are a big name celebrity or have accomplished something newsworthy, people will readily listen to you. However, for the rest of us, we need to give the audience compelling reasons to listen. Here are a couple ways.

Promise

When you leave here today, you will know a five minute method for setting goals which will propel you up the ladder of success.

Give a couple promises up front. Don't forget to follow through on them.

Benefits

What is the difference between benefits & features?

Features describe the car.

Benefits are the improvements in your life because you bought the car.

Feature: You will learn a goal setting method.

Benefit: After today, You'll be able to reach your goals fast.

Proof

The university of _______________ studied 50 people and found that individuals using this goal setting method, attained 85% of their goals.

I shared this system with my friend Sam. He was able to stop smoking in three weeks.

You can use social proof, authority proof like a quote, or research proof. Do what it takes to give reasons for them to listen.

You can write a good speech intro. Just remember to grab attention, preview the speech, and share compelling reasons for them to listen.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Here is a good speech writing tip that will easily make your speeches and presentations higher quality. Your audience will likely notice a difference immediately.  

Most people do not use this speaking tip and thus miss out on the power.

Here it is:

Be ready to give your speech 4 days before the actual date.

In other words if you are speaking on Saturday, you want to be ready to give it on Tuesday. Have your notes ready and speech practiced. Will it take lots of self-discipline? Sure, but don’t overlook the power of this good speech writing technique.

Do you just ignore the speech during those four days? No glance through it a couple times and even do some editing. You’ll have some amazing tweeks come to mind during those four days. Your presentation will be more apt to captivate the crowd.

There are several benefits:
 

• We rarely get our best work done with a deadline looming. Sure speechwriting deadlines motivates, but the quality may not be the best.

• A presentation becomes much less stressful because we are adequately prepared. 

• We unlock the power of the subconscious mind. As your presentation bounces around in the back of your subconcious mind for a few days, brilliant thoughts and ideas will flash into your brain. Capture these and tweak the speech.

•  You’ll deliver an A+ presentation. Last minute speeches often sound like last minute speeches.

You may be thinking,  “This sounds great, but I could never do this.”

Yes you can. Move your deadline for having you speech done to four days before your speech. At first you may not always meet the deadline, but at least it will help you get more done.

Apply this good speech writing tip and you’ll take your presentations to a whole new level. It is actually one of the best presentation tips I can give you.

(C) Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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