You’ve got a presentation coming up in two months. What do you do: Get cracking on writing that speech immediately, or put it off until closer to the date?
Most of us will choose the latter. You’ve got time after all. That is, until 2-months turns into a month. And that month turns into a week. It’s usually at this point that panic sets in.
What’s the reason behind so many people putting off preparation?
I posed a related question to my network: What’s the hardest part of writing your speech?
The results of this informal poll revealed that the biggest block to writing a speech is (drumroll please)… Starting.
Apparently, it’s more fun to scrub a toilet than to write your presentation. We’ve all sat down in front of the computer and wasted hours staring at the pulsating cursor while wondering, “What the heck should I talk about?”
Let’s make it a whole lot easier to get your speech started! Use these 7 strategies to get your creative juices flowing.
1. Don’t start writing your speech by sitting down at your computer
When you have a presentation to give, the first inclination is fire up your laptop, open PowerPoint and start typing away.
Step away from the computer. You’re not ready to write one word of your presentation yet. You need to first think about your audience — who they are, their problems, and how you can help.
Having a strategy in place first makes it so much easier to write your speech.
2. Get clear on your big idea
The audience is only going to remember ONE idea — yep, you read that right: ONE idea — from your presentation.You need to be strategic.
Figure out what you want to be known for as a speaker. You can’t be known for everything you’re an expert in.
Your big idea serves as the beacon for crafting your speech. Every story you tell, every sentence you create, every breath you take (*cue* I’ll be watching you), relates directly back to that big idea.
Having one big idea turns your audience into advocates by giving them a way to talk about your presentation long after your speech is over. Need help crafting that big idea? Grab the Presentation Sweet Spot and it will walk you through the process.
3. Give your audience exactly what they need
Speakers have a habit of starting presentations by answering the question, “What should I speak about?”
Instead, the question needs to be, “What does my audience need from me?” or “How can I serve my audience with this message?”
Speaking is NEVER about you. It’s always about the audience. As I work with clients, I too often see that what my clients wants to say is not what the audience needs from them. They’ve got a laundry list of ideas, but no idea what the audience knows or needs to know about their topic when they walk into the room.
Give your people what they need, and you’ll have them coming back for more of what you can offer them.
4. Plan your call-to-action
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there, and you’ll leave your audience stranded on the side of the road. Before you start your speech answer this one-question:
What is one action that you would like the audience to take as a result of hearing you speak?
Hint: They’re not there to buy your stuff.
Before you can sell, you must provide the audience with something that solves a problem or impacts their lives in a meaningful way. You’ve got to earn your pitch.
5. Implement the one-minute rule of thumb
What’s the one minute rule? For every one-minute you speak, you spend an hour preparing and practicing.
If your presentation is 15-minutes long, that’s 15 hours. 60-minutes — 60-hours. You get the point. Set aside enough time to prepare and practice your presentation.
6. Discover your best writing strategy
One of the biggest questions I get from my clients is, “What’s the best way to write a speech? Should I write it word-for-word, outline it, or do something else?”
There’s no best way to write a speech — the best way is the one that works for you.
For me, I spend a lot of time thinking about my speech before I start storyboarding. Here are several different ways to write your presentation:
-Mindmap
-Storyboard using Post-it Notes
-Outline your presentation
-Script it out
-Plan it out in your mind
-Create it in PowerPoint (but don’t use it as your PowerPoint)
-Choose your own way
Experiment, play, and find out what works best for you.
7. Get help and ask for feedback
You’re an expert! Awesome, right? But this means you’re too close to your own ideas. You don’t have the beginner’s mindset. You don’t understand what your audience doesn’t know about your topic. You need an outside perspective.
Get help and ask for feedback! Don’t ask your spouse, business best friends or anyone who knows the ins and outs of what you do and how you do it.
You truly need someone with a fresh pair of eyes for your talk. My best advice: Hire a coach to help you craft this content. My best speeches were developed when I had an expert helping me with the content. The insight about what was missing from my presentation (or what was overkill) was invaluable in making my presentation a success.
Don’t get stuck writing your presentation! Follow these strategies and make it easy to write your next presentation.
I'm Jimena Rodriguez, and choose topic number 1 because, before starting a presentation , what I do is write a first draft to correct it if it is wrong, and after that , I write it in the computer, and send the presentation.
ResponderEliminarI'm Marina and I choose number 3 because I think it's important to talk knowing what the audience need so you can provide them help and the information they want to hear. If you talk only about the things that you want the audience would never be informed
ResponderEliminarThe most important tip is the number 1 because if you don't have a clear idea it is difficult to make a good writting.
ResponderEliminarSantiago Messer & Paula Vein 5to 4ta
I choose number 3 because i like the idea of "Speaking is NEVER about you. It’s always about the audience." i think that it is the best strategie for speechwriting because it catch the attention of the people and it is not boring.
ResponderEliminarI think this strategies are absolutely usefull!. I think the most important is the numer 1, but I will put in practice all of them. Thanks!
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion all of the tips are very useful. They are all part of a mean to an end, and i'll take them all into consideration when writing. Thank.
ResponderEliminarAdriano Orsini 5º3º
Thank's for the strategies.From my point of vew one of the most important is the number two.Because you should have a big idea for people who listening you.If they remember about the topic of your speech or presentation,you realized a good work.
ResponderEliminarLuna 5to4ta.
I'm Catalina from 5'4 and I choose number 6, because I do the same things. When I write something I put arrows and colours everywhere. Sometimes I post notesb in my writings yo make them funny and beautiful. I'm fan of this topic, because doing this I do a excellent work!
ResponderEliminarCruz Victoria, 5to 3ra.
ResponderEliminarAll tips are useful to help me keep learning but in my opinion the number six was the most convincing because there are other ways to write a presentation. It is important to learn.
We should implement all the tips. But I choose number four because I think it is good to do it striking and outstanding to draw the attention of the people with what they want.
ResponderEliminarAñazco Tamara 5to3ra
I think number 3 is the most important because if you want to catch the audience attention, you have to give them what they really need.
ResponderEliminarXimena Lobo, 5to 3ra.
All this tips are useful to make it easier. However, i consider that the most important tip here is sixth one "Discover your writing strategy". For example, using colours or something striking will catch the attention of the people. Moreover people will be interested on what you have to show, it'll be perfect!
ResponderEliminarTamara Mamani 5to3ra
Al the tips are useful, but i consider the most important tip the number 1 because i feel better writing on a computer, however i put all the tips on práctice! Damian Ortubia 5to 4ta
ResponderEliminarI think the tip number two is the most important, because you can make the audience talk about something that you like and if they like it too they will remember your speech. So you have done a good job.
ResponderEliminarJesica 5to 4ta
I consider that the most important tip is the 4th one because when you make a speech you'll actually want to change something or to make your audience do something, so you should know that before you write it if you want to transmit a clear idea.
ResponderEliminarLucas Aguirre 5to 3ra
I think the most important tip is the number 2 because when you do a presentation you've got to know what's the general concept. Starting for this idea you can talk about other less importants things. But never you can let the general idea go.
ResponderEliminarSofía Ramírez Cardoso 5to 4ta
I'm Camila Lopez and I think that the tip number 3 is the most important. If you don't give an interesting topic for the audience, the speech loses its sense 'cause nobody will listen to you.
ResponderEliminarI think that all tips are useful. Each of them serve for all stepts of a good writting, that´s why if I had to make a writeen I put the tips into practice. Sol 5to 4ta
ResponderEliminarAll the tips are very useful to make a speech. I think the tips number two and three are the most important. When you decide a topic you have to think about what the audience wants to hear. You have to talk about an interesting theme in order not to bore them. Finally, the speech mustn't lose the sense.
ResponderEliminarCandela 5to 3era
The tips are vey helpful! However I think that the tip number 5," Implement the one-minute rule of thumb" is not as important as the other ones, it's too long! I do think is important to prepare and practice your speech but not for so long.
ResponderEliminarThe one that I liked the most was tip number 7 "Get help and ask for feedback" because I think it would be great to have others opinions and ask for some advise, it could be from your family, friends or you teacher, anybody who can give you another point of view, different from the one that you have, it would help you to improve your speech!
I'm mora broussalis from 5°3°
Hi my name is Fernando Cortez, I choose the tip number 1(one) because i think that I can't or I shouldn't start to write the speech if i don't know somethings about my audience, like...where they come from? Problems, what they like?, after know something about them i can start to write my speech with knowledge and have an excelent speech.
ResponderEliminarI am Augusto stach from 5to 3ra. In my opinion all the tips are very easy to follow and all of them are really helpful by making speach. If i had to choose some of them i would defenetly choose number 1 and 3. Specially number 3 (to say exactly what the people want to hear). I will put in practice all of them.
ResponderEliminarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarAll of the topics are important and useful. However, I think I would pick number three as the most important one because when you write a speech it's important to talk about something the audience is interested about so you can keep them focused and not bore them.
ResponderEliminarMelanie Aguirre 5to 3ra