7 Proven Tips & Strategies for Effective Speech Preparation

00:05:58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbOCTtQZg9c

Summary

TLDRIn this video, Yannick from Speak and Conquer addresses common questions about public speaking, particularly focusing on effective speech preparation. He outlines a step-by-step approach to preparing a speech, including brainstorming topics, understanding audience interests, and practicing effectively. Yannick emphasizes the importance of limiting the number of key messages to three to five, advises against memorizing the entire presentation, and shares tips on using notes without losing engagement with the audience. Overall, the video provides valuable insights for anyone looking to improve their public speaking skills.

Takeaways

  • 📝 Brainstorm your speech messages.
  • 📞 Ask your audience about their interests.
  • 🎯 Limit your main ideas to 3-5.
  • 🚫 Avoid memorizing every word.
  • 🎤 Rehearse until you're satisfied.
  • 📄 Use bullet points for notes.
  • 👀 Glance at notes, don't read them.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:58

    In this video, Yannick from speakandconquer.com addresses frequently asked questions about public speaking, focusing on speech preparation. He outlines a step-by-step approach to preparing a speech, which includes brainstorming key messages, narrowing them down, creating a simple outline, and practicing on video. He emphasizes the importance of knowing the audience's interests by directly asking them or sending out questionnaires. Yannick advises limiting the number of main ideas to three to five for better retention and discourages memorizing the entire presentation, suggesting a more natural delivery instead. He highlights the need for rehearsal until the speaker feels confident and recommends using bullet points for notes to maintain eye contact with the audience. Finally, he concludes by encouraging viewers to engage with the content and subscribe for more tips.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • How do I prepare for a speech?

    Brainstorm messages, narrow them down, create an outline, and practice on video.

  • How do I know what topics will interest my audience?

    Ask your audience directly or send out a questionnaire.

  • What's the best number of messages to communicate?

    Aim for three to five main ideas.

  • Should I memorize my entire presentation?

    No, it's better to be natural than to memorize every word.

  • How many times should I rehearse my speech?

    Rehearse until you are satisfied with the results.

  • How do I prepare to use notes?

    Create bullet points, use large font, and have multiple copies around the room.

  • Is it okay to read from notes during a presentation?

    No, but you can glance at simple bullet points.

View more video summaries

Get instant access to free YouTube video summaries powered by AI!
Subtitles
en
Auto Scroll:
  • 00:00:00
    there are a bunch of public speaking
  • 00:00:02
    related questions that I keep hearing
  • 00:00:04
    and probably will keep hearing during my
  • 00:00:07
    training sessions or business Consulting
  • 00:00:09
    sessions
  • 00:00:11
    usually these are the same types of
  • 00:00:13
    questions and therefore I call them
  • 00:00:15
    frequently asked questions about public
  • 00:00:18
    speaking hi I'm Yannick from speak and
  • 00:00:21
    conquer.com and here are my answers to
  • 00:00:24
    the most frequently asked questions
  • 00:00:25
    about this topic
  • 00:00:27
    so if you're interested then jump in
  • 00:00:32
    speech preparation related questions
  • 00:00:35
    here are some of the most asked
  • 00:00:37
    questions about speech preparation
  • 00:00:39
    how do I prepare for a speech in a
  • 00:00:42
    nutshell do the following brainstorm
  • 00:00:44
    every message you could say to this
  • 00:00:47
    audience on the topic at hand
  • 00:00:49
    narrow it down to the top five
  • 00:00:51
    brainstorm on a story or two and an
  • 00:00:54
    example for each message point and come
  • 00:00:57
    up with a fact or a number for each
  • 00:00:59
    message point
  • 00:01:01
    create a simple one-page outline that
  • 00:01:04
    has no more than three or four words per
  • 00:01:06
    line
  • 00:01:08
    practice the speech on video you can
  • 00:01:10
    even use your own cell phone
  • 00:01:12
    keep practicing until you like it
  • 00:01:15
    if you do these things you will be ahead
  • 00:01:17
    of 95 percent of the public speakers in
  • 00:01:20
    the world
  • 00:01:22
    how do I know what topics will be
  • 00:01:24
    interesting to my audience
  • 00:01:25
    keep in mind that your best source of
  • 00:01:28
    information quite often is your actual
  • 00:01:30
    audience therefore if possible and you
  • 00:01:34
    have the contact numbers just pick up
  • 00:01:36
    the phone and ask the participants
  • 00:01:38
    if you're giving a presentation to 50
  • 00:01:40
    people at a trade conference on Friday
  • 00:01:42
    then call one or two of them and ask
  • 00:01:45
    what interests them and what they think
  • 00:01:47
    would interest others then you could
  • 00:01:50
    perhaps list 20 ideas out of these
  • 00:01:52
    interests see which three or four jump
  • 00:01:55
    out and here you are ready to rock and
  • 00:01:58
    roll
  • 00:01:58
    now if you were leading some kind of a
  • 00:02:01
    seminar and you have a database of
  • 00:02:03
    people who are supposed to be there you
  • 00:02:05
    can also send out a questionnaire in
  • 00:02:07
    advance
  • 00:02:08
    list your 20 possible topics and ask
  • 00:02:11
    people to list three or four their most
  • 00:02:13
    interested in or put them in priority
  • 00:02:17
    also with open-ended questions ask them
  • 00:02:20
    what they would like you to address it's
  • 00:02:22
    not a hard thing to do
  • 00:02:25
    what's the best number of messages to
  • 00:02:28
    try to communicate when I'm giving a
  • 00:02:29
    speech
  • 00:02:30
    before I answer that I want you to think
  • 00:02:33
    for a minute of the best speaker you've
  • 00:02:35
    heard in the last year or the last five
  • 00:02:37
    years
  • 00:02:38
    now tell me how many messages do you
  • 00:02:41
    remember from that presentation I mean
  • 00:02:43
    the actual content how many messages do
  • 00:02:45
    you remember
  • 00:02:46
    I've asked people that question for more
  • 00:02:48
    than a decade and I've never had anyone
  • 00:02:50
    really remember more than about a
  • 00:02:52
    minute's worth of content or a handful
  • 00:02:54
    of ideas from the best speaker they've
  • 00:02:56
    seen in the last year to five years
  • 00:02:59
    so that's why I would recommend that you
  • 00:03:02
    try to communicate no more than three to
  • 00:03:04
    five main ideas per presentation
  • 00:03:09
    should I memorize my entire presentation
  • 00:03:12
    it's certainly true that audiences don't
  • 00:03:14
    like it if your head is buried in your
  • 00:03:15
    notes or you're staring at a
  • 00:03:18
    powerpoint's light but some people go
  • 00:03:20
    too far by trying to memorize every
  • 00:03:22
    single word in the speech the problem is
  • 00:03:24
    it's just really really hard to do
  • 00:03:26
    unless you're a trained actor it is
  • 00:03:29
    going to sound kind of like you were
  • 00:03:30
    reading a teleprompter in your brain
  • 00:03:32
    it's not going to sound natural because
  • 00:03:34
    you're gonna sound like you're talking
  • 00:03:36
    about what do I say five seconds from
  • 00:03:38
    now so even if you're normally great at
  • 00:03:41
    memorizing something it's not going to
  • 00:03:43
    be as effective when you're giving a
  • 00:03:45
    presentation that's why I do not
  • 00:03:47
    recommend that you try to memorize a
  • 00:03:49
    presentation
  • 00:03:53
    how many times should I rehearse my
  • 00:03:55
    speech guess what your audience wants
  • 00:03:58
    the best so it's your job to rehearse
  • 00:04:00
    enough to get to the point where you're
  • 00:04:02
    at your very best
  • 00:04:04
    so the real key to rehearsal is to keep
  • 00:04:06
    doing it until you like the results
  • 00:04:08
    maybe you can do that in one take maybe
  • 00:04:11
    it takes 10 takes or maybe it takes two
  • 00:04:14
    days
  • 00:04:15
    also you need a rehearse on video and
  • 00:04:18
    that could be as simple as talking to
  • 00:04:21
    your own cell phone and recording it so
  • 00:04:24
    you should rehearse as long as it takes
  • 00:04:25
    for you to be great
  • 00:04:28
    how do I prepare to use notes
  • 00:04:31
    the technique I use is very simple I
  • 00:04:33
    create bullet points I number it I make
  • 00:04:36
    the font large so I can look at it
  • 00:04:38
    without using my glasses and I have it
  • 00:04:41
    on a lectern or a table
  • 00:04:43
    I have it on a single sheet of paper
  • 00:04:45
    I cut out the sides and edges to make it
  • 00:04:48
    as small as possible
  • 00:04:50
    typically what I do is have three copies
  • 00:04:52
    of my speech and I will have them around
  • 00:04:55
    the room that way I don't ever have to
  • 00:04:58
    stand in one spot consistently and I
  • 00:05:01
    don't have to stand behind a lectern I
  • 00:05:03
    can walk around and appear to just be
  • 00:05:05
    talking to and having a real
  • 00:05:07
    conversation with people anytime people
  • 00:05:09
    hear me speak they just assume I'm
  • 00:05:11
    talking to them and I'm not using notes
  • 00:05:14
    but the fact is I'm always using notes
  • 00:05:19
    is it okay to read from notes during a
  • 00:05:22
    presentation
  • 00:05:23
    no I don't recommend that you read it
  • 00:05:25
    what I do recommend is having a simple
  • 00:05:27
    sheet of notes at which you glance down
  • 00:05:30
    occasionally it should consist of simple
  • 00:05:32
    bullet points or a few words to keep you
  • 00:05:34
    on track
  • 00:05:36
    so there you go these were the most
  • 00:05:39
    frequently asked questions about public
  • 00:05:41
    speaking
  • 00:05:43
    now if you find this video helpful then
  • 00:05:46
    press Thumbs Up And subscribe to this
  • 00:05:48
    channel
  • 00:05:49
    also before you go take a look at the
  • 00:05:52
    next video you see on the screen right
  • 00:05:54
    now meanwhile take care
Tags
  • public speaking
  • speech preparation
  • audience engagement
  • presentation tips
  • rehearsal techniques
  • speech topics
  • memorization
  • using notes
  • effective communication
  • Yannick