Just like a kid in a recital who forgets a memorized piece, you may find yourself having to go back and start over if you forget the next word.
It is possible to memorize a speech and have it work–motivational speakers do it. But they’re going to give theirs many times and get paid for it, so it can justify the many hours it takes to get all the words in the right order (that’s a huge commitment of time), and then many more hours to work on all the gestures and facial expressions and then work on your voice so that it sounds natural, enthusiastic, sincere, and like you’re saying it for the first time.
It may be a worthwhile investment of time and energy for them, but probably not for you.
Most of us will make the presentation maybe once or twice. So rather than memorize (which without all that work can sound robotic and can be scary), take the shortcut to having your gestures, face and voice be natural, sincere and enthusiastic–while staying on topic.
Give up feeling like you have to get the words right. It’s the ideas you want to share–not the words. Picture the idea, see it unfold and share it with the audience. And there you have sincerity, naturalness and enthusiasm.
Think in terms of ideas. Think in terms of your story line. Think in terms of your desired outcome.
In my workshop we cover all these steps and you get to practice them until it becomes logical and easy–for every presentation.
Your story (even a financial report, or progress report can have a story line) needs a beginning middle and an end. It needs to move logically through the points you want to make. And it needs to be clear to you and to the audience why this matters to them and what they’re supposed to do about it.
Break your story into logical little chunks: I’m going to go from this chunk to this chunk to this chunk–rather than trying to clutch at the words.
Draw some little stick figures that act as memory taps for each chunk. Practice telling your story from just using the stick figures as prompts. And then, maybe, you could memorize the pictures.
The pictures will come back to your thought much more quickly than will words, and they come as complete ideas that you can describe with various configurations of words.
This takes waaay less time than memorizing, gives you confidence that you know your story, and makes it possible to stay on track and keep your audience with you.
Try doing this on something that isn’t a do or die speech to see that it really works.
And if you’d like to get a real hold on it, sign up for my Speaking Workshop that starts February 15!!
This process just makes speaking so much easier and more enjoyable. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Getting Over Yourself 