Preparing speeches in advance

 

Preparing a speech that is presented from the script is a different art than preparing a speech on the spot - on the one hand the expectations and standards are different, and on the other hand the tools at our disposal are different. It is important for me to emphasize that reading a speech from the script requires a much greater degree of effort compared to presenting it from the beginning of chapters. In fact, reading a speech from an incompletely prepared script may be worse than presenting it from chapter headings.

So how do you approach the preparation of a written speech?
As you know, I define five steps for preparing a speech. These stages are important both in a speech that is impromptu with ten minutes' notice, and also for the prime minister's speech to the nation. In this article we will discuss how Preparing a speech in advance is different from preparing a speech on the spot.

So here it is: - Rival's plan for an effective speech

 

1. Strategy formulation
2. Brainstorming
3. Filtering and organizing
4. Developing the arguments
5. feedback and control

Step 1 - Formulating a strategy

At this stage we are building the game plan, as well as clarifying the context and circumstances of the speech: who will be the audience, how much time will be available to us? What is expected of us? What do we expect to achieve? Will there be additional speakers before us or after us? 

Based on the information we have collected, we define what we want to achieve and how we would like to achieve it. For example, if we are preparing for a paper at the academy, our goal will be to present the research we conducted and show that we have mastered the material. On the other hand, if we are making a first presentation to a potential client, we want to show him the solutions we can offer him, establish a positive personal relationship, and get an order (or maybe just get a meeting with the decision maker, depending on the deal).

a speech prepared In advance - There is no big difference compared to a speech prepared under time pressure. It usually requires more information gathering, because we usually know less about the framework and conditions of the speech. That's why it's worth checking more deeply the participants and the hall

Step B - brainstorming

At this stage we turn to our creative side and try to generate as many ideas as possible for arguments and examples so that we can later build an argument from them. It is important at this stage to let our associations run freely so that later we have as much material as possible to work with. Therefore, it is important to write down every scrap of idea on the page, because when we suddenly have a burst of ideas, we may forget one while we are generating others.
For those of us who have acute critical thinking, I highly recommend at this stage to turn off (temporarily) the switch of criticism, and write on the page also ideas that are definitely weak. The reason for this is that critical thinking blocks the creative process by expecting every idea to break out at a high level of finish - this prevents half-baked ideas that could have been developed later from emerging into the world.
By the way, those who persist in a critical approach to brainstorming for years may lose their creativity in favor of a negative self-image.

A speech prepared in advance - The big difference here is the research. When we have to prepare a speech without preparation time we have to think of arguments and examples from the head, and at most consult with someone else. When we have a week to prepare, we can not only come up with all our ideas, but also gather more information.
Of course, the first place to start is the Internet, and more precisely Google. Many times when we are looking for arguments on some topic, we can look for phrases like "for and against" or "why should" in conjunction with your topic. If the presentation is for a professional audience, more in-depth sources should be used - lawyers will use case law databases, academics in professional journals, salespeople in conversations with the competitor's customers, and accountants in the financial reports.
By the way, it is important to collect not only ideas for arguments, but also to collect examples, since examples help to think about arguments.

Step C - filtering and organization

At this stage we consolidate all the ideas that occurred to us in the brainstorming stage into a skeleton of a speech that will advance our strategy. We look again at the page with the ideas that came to us in brainstorming, and consolidate them into chapter heads. There are several actions that need to be done at this stage:

• Consolidation – examine which ideas and examples go together as a single argument. It is very possible that several ideas that you wrote down in separate places are actually one argument. For example, it is possible that a weak idea that we might have dismissed is actually the piece of the puzzle that is needed to complete another argument.
  Also, combining several ideas into one argument reduces the mess and dispersion without losing knowledge.
• Filtering - you have to decide which ideas should be rejected and not enter the speech. There are many possible reasons for not presenting ideas: they may simply be unconvincing, or factually incorrect, or may offend some of the audience. It is especially important to be careful that they do not contradict other arguments we present.
  By the way, sometimes it happens that a certain idea is good, relevant and convincing - but there is simply not enough time to present it.
• Organization: choose the order in which we will present the arguments. In other words, prepare chapter heads.

 

Here by the way we 'turn on' the critical thinking switch that we 'turned off' in the brainstorming phase. At this stage it is very important to look carefully at the bots we have listed and choose which one meets the necessary standards.

A speech prepared in advance -  There is no big difference here either - both when there is time and when there is no time, you still need to go over the ideas we have put forward and form organized chapter heads from them.

Step D - Developing arguments

At this stage we take the chapter headings we have prepared, and work on turning each heading into a full argument. In other words, we add 'meat' to the skeleton we created earlier.
For this we need to prepare a logical explanation for each of our claims, which reasons why it is true in principle. In addition, we must provide facts and/or examples for each such point, to illustrate it and give factual backing to our words.
For example, if we are presenting a closing speech in court - it is important to justify each argument in favor of the party and explain why the legal logic is behind it, as well as bring examples (precedents). Alternatively, if we present an important product - to explain why each of its advantages is important for the customer, as well as bring factual backing in the form of supporting numerical data, a quote from a satisfied customer, or an example of a laudatory journalistic article.

A speech prepared in advance -  As in brainstorming, here too Google makes the difference. Our ability to use information from the outside, and to supplement arguments and facts from external sources makes it possible to greatly improve the development of arguments.The difference from brainstorming is that here we deal with gathering, whereas in the brainstorming phase we dealt with dispersal. In other words - developing the arguments requires focusing on the topics formulated at the beginning of the chapters, and looking for evidence for each of them - checking that each of them has a convincing explanation, and that each of them has facts and examples to back it up. It is important to emphasize an interesting difference between a speech that is prepared on the spot and a speech that is prepared in advance - statistics. Most of us don't know many statistics by heart, so a prepared speech usually doesn't include them (or they're just made up).

Preparation of a written speech - When we have to read the speech from the script (for example when the speech needs to be approved in advance or when it needs to be distributed later to the participants), the stage of developing the arguments is also the stage where we start formulating the speech itself. In fact, the development of the arguments is done in writing instead of in the paper
That's why all the emphasis regarding wording, especially wording when writing to be read comes into play at this stage: writing in simple Hebrew, avoiding overly complicated sentences, etc.

The fifth stage - feedback and control

At this point we take a step back and examine the speech we wrote from the viewer's point of view. We present the speech to ourselves - maybe by heart, better by voice - and are impressed by the good and bad parts. This is an opportunity for us to catch errors and malfunctions and fix them. And if we corrected - read the speech again in its final form.
Another advantage of this stage is that it prepares us for the presentation of the speech, and allows us to achieve better control and fluency when we stand in front of an audience.
For example, we may find that the first and last arguments are actually quite overlapping, or one of our examples may offend the client because it praises its competitors.
By the way, it is important to disconnect a little from the writing before this stage, so that we can get a little external point of view. Sometimes it's enough to go for a cigarette break or make two phone calls - the main thing is to come back with a slightly clear and open head to examine the speech 'from the outside'.

In the real world it happens that the lines between stages are a little blurred, and it also happens that you have to jump back and forth. It is completely natural. But it is important not to skip any step because then we will find ourselves writing a great speech that proves the wrong thing (if we skipped strategy), or we will go up on stage and present a speech and in the middle we will get stuck discovering that we are insulting the audience (if we skipped feedback and control).

 

A speech prepared in advance -  When we sit down and prepare the speech in advance, the feedback and control phase becomes long and significant, since here we have the opportunity to practice ourselves, and correct what needs correction. Therefore, when preparing a speech in advance, the feedback and control phase does not consist of stepping back and checking the content - but of thorough practice of it.

It is recommended to practice out loud, and even in front of someone else (if not, you can also in front of a mirror or a video camera).

Preparation of a written speech - Here the importance of practice is even greater, since without practice the reading of a speech will be monotonous, choppy and boring. There is not much wisdom here - you have to practice several times, until we return to the natural intonation. How do you know that we have reached natural intonation? If possible deliver the speech, while looking up from the text every now and then and making eye contact with the audience.

Some final tips:

The written speech should be printed in a particularly large font. It is important to emphasize headings, and clearly separate the paragraphs from each other. If there are words that are important to emphasize, you should mark them in bold, perhaps with the addition of an underline. It is important to avoid two-sided alignment of the text (as is customary, for example, in academic works). Make sure to number the pages and the titles in case the pages get messed up on stage.

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