How To Prepare a Long Duration Speech

 

Recently I published a post about crafting a basic speech in just five minutes.  This is helpful if you need to make a presentation with little or no notice. It happens, especially if you are known for some level of expertise in your organization. You can read the post here https://gycz.blogspot.com/2022/10/how-to-prepare-speech-in-five-minutes.html

After publishing that post, I received some e-mails asking how to prepare for longer presentations. I do like receiving questions or seeing comments posted to the blog page.  I’ll share my approach for longer speeches.

A Series of Short Speeches

It can seem a daunting task to prepare a presentation that lasts twenty minutes, or forty minutes, or perhaps longer, however, a helpful way to plan for a longer presentation is to think of it as a series of smaller, well connected short speeches. My sweet spot is twenty to forty minutes so I tend to guide requests to this range, and this works for most meeting planners.

Planning with Bubbles

When I need to deliver a longer presentation, I begin planning by creating a bubble diagram, which is a creativity technique. Here’s an example of a bubble diagram https://bit.ly/3tjX5GD

I use a bubble diagram to visually capture all of my possible material on one page.  While I use the bubble technique, some people are more familiar with other creativity techniques, such as the fish bone technique. A key for any creativity tool is to capture ideas without judgement, to creatively generate ideas, or in this case to creatively capture possible content, or talk points. To be clear, when documenting these talk points, I avoid editing and judging with thoughts like ‘this doesn’t belong.’  Initially I want to quickly and non-judgementally document all possible content, and let the creative juices further inspire other ideas that might not be immediately obvious when staring at a blank page.

Creating a Bubble Diagram  

To begin generating ideas I place a circle, a bubble, in the center of the page with the core theme, for example “Speech Development.”  Then I start placing related ideas in surrounding bubbles, for example, “organization,”” use of notes,” “define purpose,” or “ relevant stories.”  Then I usually break some of the related bubbles into smaller components, for example referencing some specific stories. 

After a first version of the bubble diagram is complete, I put this away for at least 24 hours.  Later when I review it, I always have new ideas, and new content with a bubble or two to add.

Capture All Possible Talking Points  

My purpose in performing this exercise is to satisfy myself that I’ve captured all, or virtually all, of my knowledge and possible talking points on the page. That gives me confidence that I have lots of usable content for a longer speech.  I also use this approach when I coach people on speech development.

As I review the diagram, I consider each bubble and assess whether each point is substantial. My measure of substantial is that I could speak to each point for two minutes or more.  

Purpose Drives Content

The next step is the most important.  I ask myself ‘what is my purpose in speaking to this specific audience on this day?’  What exactly do I want the audience to understand, or to do differently. Purpose drives content.  This forces me to give consideration to the expertise level of the audience, and why they’ve invited me to speak.

What to Keep, What to Use on Another Day

Once I’ve defined my presentation purpose, I can choose the bubbles that support my purpose. At this point, I usually have to set aside some material I really would like to use, but that does not support the purpose of my speech. Once content is selected, then I can experiment with sequencing the ideas, and refining my speaking points.

Conclusion

This is a short introduction to my method of preparing longer presentations. There will always be discernment in defining purpose and selecting content.

Practice, Practice, Practice

If you wish to excel in public speaking, you will need to practice.  Public speaking is a skill, and skills require practice.  The best athletes in the world practice basic skills regularly.

My key practice venue is my Toastmasters club. I have been a member of Toastmasters since 1987 and I remain for many reasons. One is to regularly practice these skills including 2-minute impromptu speeches and 5–7-minute speeches.  Public speaking is a skill and skills require practice if you expect them to be sharp.

 

The Beauty Of Jacaranda Trees (The Cost Of Poor Communication)

I was reminded that as we’re now in late August, at time of writing, that while my summer nears an end, winter is nearing it’s end in the southern hemisphere, and spring is on their horizon with Jacaranda trees now in bright purple bloom. Here is a link with a great photo of Jacaranda https://www.refugeesintowns.org/harare

A Toastmaster friend sent me an email covering a few topics and he told me of the progress of the Jacaranda, and reminded me that I had expressed appreciation for the beautiful blossoms when I visited Zimbabwe for just one day in 2016. He sent me a link to a local article that was published when I visited and I had commented on the beauty of these trees. You can read the article here

https://www.herald.co.zw/toasting-to-success/

I re-read the brief article from the Harare Herald and found new appreciation with how the author Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe wrote about Toastmasters and noted the need to effectively communicate with peers, clients, subordinates, the media and other key people.

It can be difficult to fully assess the cost of ineffective communication, but one cost is lost opportunity. Opportunity is lost when people fail to offer ideas in meetings if they are not confident they can deliver their message well. Another is when an unskilled speaker comments to media and the organization needs to correct a poorly phrased message. If someone is representing an organization publicly in any capacity, they really need their communication skills to be sharp.

Earlier this year I wrote a perspective on the cost of poor communication skills (https://gycz.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-cost-of-poor-communication-skills.html). In that post I wrote I had been interested in an online university course at a U.S. institution, but during a presentation promoting the program I quickly tuned out because the presenter was very bad at making his point. His presentation was disorganized, difficult to follow, and filled with ums and ahs as he struggled to sell the program. I did have sympathy, and I did have interest, but my unwillingness to fight through his poor communication skills resulted in me signing off early. You may have had similar experiences. That university lost a revenue opportunity, and possibly a public relations opportunity.

Another view on the cost of poor communication is provided in this Forbes posting

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/11/15/the-true-cost-of-poor-communication/?sh=2b8a3f1c20ab

Although difficult to fully assess, poor communication skills are costly to organizations. However, good communications skills can be learned and practiced.