You need more than 24 hours to write a speech.

Before we begin, this is totally my fault. I signed up for a speech at Toastmasters 4 weeks ago, hot on the heels of my last one.

That is more than enough time, even allowing a week for the holiday I took in the meantime.

My plan was (as recommended by someone at my club):

Week 1-2 – brain storm

Week 3 – write the speech

Week 4 – rehearse the speech

But you can see where my time has gone recently. That’s it – into my writing. So I discounted weeks 1-3 because I had plenty of content and figured I could quickly refine a post into a speech and rehearse it in, say, 2 weeks.

And then more important things came up: my wife was unwell and I wanted to apply for the LinkedIn creator programme application.

And before I knew it, I was 24 hours away from giving my speech and hadn’t even started it.

Eeek! Squeaky bum time.

I’ve committed to this learning journey at TM, so I was damn well going to go and talk, however bad it was. I’m not quitting on this. I’d rather face the embarrassment of the speech not being any good, than let down the other club members by cancelling at the last minute.

So, with that in mind, and the clock ticking Kiefer Sutherland style, I got to work.

Here’s the high level process I followed.

1. I brainstormed what I wanted to talk about and what I wanted the talk to do, e.g. educate, inspire and so on. ~30 mins
2. I worked out the main structure of the talk ~30 mins
3. I wrote the talk out word for word, reading it out loud and refining it as I went (which helps remember the speech later) ~2 hours, ~30 mins for first draft for a 5-7 minute speech and ~90 mins to edit
4. I found pulled out key words from the talk and made summary notes, in line with the structure ~30 mins
5. Rehearsed the talk 4 times
6. Once I was happy with the talk and summary, I wrote out the summary notes to keep close to hand on the evening ~15 mins

This was for a 5-7 minute speech.

NB when you time yourself, allow an extra minute for pauses, audience reaction and the witty things you think of when you’re ‘live’

Here’s a more detailed look at what I did

1. I brainstormed what I wanted to talk about and what I wanted the talk to do, e.g. educate, inspire and so on. ~30 mins

I had a clear brief from TM, I could talk about whatever I wanted, but needed to focus on vocal variety and varied body language. So I decided to tell a story with some ups and downs, some emotion, some disappointment, some fear.

I decided to write about writing this blog and the journey to get here. I included being inspired by my high school English teacher and gaining enough confidence after a month of writing to submit an application for the LinkedIn creators programme.

It helped that this was so recent, and I could build a story around it. Choosing something recent also helps you remember the talk when you stand up to deliver it and see people staring at you in anticipation!

2. I worked out the main structure of the talk ~30 mins

The key stages are:

• Comfort zone: this is not a bad place but something is missing, some potential is going to waste.
• Trigger: something knocks you down. Either you were unlucky or you weren’t paying attention.
• Crisis: you’re down in a hole, but in stories we find treasure in the dark. This is where you find or learn something valuable.
• Recovery: you put what you’ve learned to good use and start climbing back.
• Better place: you are older and wiser, you won’t get knocked down so easily next time.

3. I wrote the talk out word for word, reading it out loud and refining it as I went ~2 hours, ~30 mins for first draft for a 5-7 minute speech and ~90 mins to edit

In reality, this step is optional. If you’re confident enough to give a speech with some bullet points, then feel free to skip this. But if you like to script at least some of it, then I can’t highlight how important it is to read it out loud and check the words flow properly in spoken format.

Even if you don’t want to script your talk, I think it helps to write it out, so you can see the flow of the story or talk laid out in front of you and check it makes sense. Do you have enough material for each point? Is one a sub-point or a repeat of another?

4. I found pulled out key words from the talk and made summary notes, in line with the structure ~30 mins

This is cross-check time. Does your prose align to your structure? Do 2 and 3 agree?

For me, today they didn’t. So I adjusted the man in the hole structure to fit what I wanted to say. This was an error – in my evaluation (in TM all speeches are evaluated) it was pointed out that my talk meandered, like I was heading off down the Yellow Brick Road…ouch! Fair feedback though.

5. Rehearsed the talk 4 times

Do this until you’re comfortable. For a 5-7 minute speech, following this process, talking about something you know well, you shouldn’t need to rehearse 10+ times.

The more you run over your lines, the more you’ll recognise them and remember how they link together. But it depends on how word perfect you want it. If you have less than 24 hours to prepare, I’ll assume you’re not fussy. You’ll find your rhythm.

6. Once I was happy with the talk and summary, I wrote out the summary notes to keep close to hand on the evening ~15 mins

Get an index card, or a piece of paper and write out your summary notes. Write one or two words per point if you can help it. Write more text if you want more comfort.

Whatever you do, DON’T put your notes on your phone! I tried this approach at a friend’s wedding when I was giving a best man’s speech. I couldn’t navigate the phone properly, the screen was small, I lost my place, the text expanded, then the window disappeared and I didn’t know my speech. It was a complete, embarrassing failure.

So don’t do it!

An alternative

I tried something different tonight. I copied what Seth Godin says he does in this interview with Every

I sometimes have to scrap the slides because there’s only one screen. Now, it takes a lot of preparation to give a talk with no slides. It’s much harder. But I invented something three emergencies ago that makes it much easier. I take a water bottle or a Starbucks cup on stage, and I stick my story list on the back. No one knows. They can’t see it. 

It worked. I didn’t need the prompt in the end, but it was great backup to have, and I built it into my speech. Love you Seth. Thank you Every.

Close

And that’s it. In total, this is no more than 4 hours total work. But if you spread it over 24 hours, you allow more time for creativity in picking your topic, revising what you want to say and, of course, practice.

But there’s nothing to say this couldn’t be done in an afternoon.

Maybe that’s my next challenge?

Try this approach and let me know how you get on.

Best wishes,

Jon

Here’s the full speech and summary notes

Brief

Toastmasters speech 3 – vocal variety and body language