Before you can practice your performance and delivery of any presentation or speech, you need to write a really good one. You want your presentation to be interesting, easy to understand, and memorable.

 

Here are several ideas to help you craft a plan for your presentation and make choosing the words that much easier:

1. Who is the target audience? The answer to this question will help you choose content to match the listeners whom you most want to reach.  Criteria such as age, maturity level, education level, geographic area, occupation, gender, and ethnic background may affect the content and word choices that you make in order to reach the greatest number of listeners in your audience. Use language that will engage the audience and help them understand what you are saying.

2. What is your main point, or conclusion? What do you want your listeners to care about or remember when you are finished speaking? Your main point needs to be short, valuable, and easy to reiterate. Although your conclusion comes at the end, you need to think about this before you begin writing so that it fuels your objectives.

3. Tell a good story. Don’t write your speech as if you were going to read it. Write your speech as conversation, as if your listeners were going to hear it, and not read it. In contrast to good writing, people rarely speak in complete sentences when they are telling a story or having a conversation. Try to write in a conversational style. If you plan to quote facts or give statistics, make sure they are combined with a good story. Your audience will not be reading along with you, so you need to illustrate a good story with facts, examples, and statistics. Keep your listeners involved by asking questions or asking for one or more volunteers to illustrate a point.

4. The Rule of Three: Professional speakers know that things that come in three’s are often easier to remember, funnier,  and more effective. The Rule of Three is a pattern with an inherent rhythm and cadence that is familiar to everyone. It has been around for centuries as a well-known feature of public oratory. Comedians know it well. Listeners respond to and remember things when they hear things in three’s. Several examples of this include: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, “veni, vidi, vici,” sex, drugs, rock & roll,  location, location, location and a favorite from Alfred Doolittle in Shaw’s Pygmalion: “I’ll tell you, Governor, if you’ll only let me get a word in. I’m willing to tell you. I’m wanting to tell you. I’m waiting to tell you.”

As you begin to think about the outline of your speech or presentation, keep these simple strategies in mind. Follow them as you add your content and you’ll be well on your way to a successful speech.