Pointing the way

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you use your speech points this way:

• Get attention - one point
• Contrast - paired points
• Harmony - lists of three
• Intensity - long list of points (four or more)

Pointing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

PRUNE your speech

Fellow speaker,

Writer and editor Mitch Merkin suggests you "PRUNE" your speeches after you write them out by eliminating

• Platitudes - remove obvious observations and points that the audience already knows
• Redundancy - take out unneeded repetition of unimportant points (it is OK to repeat important, key speech points)
• Unnecessary words - reduce the number of words so your audience quickly and easily understands you speech point(s)
• Needless complication - reduce complex ideas into an overall, simple, easy to understand idea
• Excursions - eliminate the places in your speech where you wander off your point and talk about things not directly relevant to your topic and speech point

Entitled,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Turning a mess into a message

Fellow speaker,

Comedian Judy Carter has a seven step method to help you find your speech:

1. Take 30 minutes to write down major personal moments of your life
2. After the 30 minutes are up, mark the moments which were "Successful" with an "S"
3. Next to each "Success"moment write down your lowest point (e.g., if talking your point is about a successful marriage your lowest point might be when your friends told you you would never find anyone who would want to marry you)
4. For each point, summarize how you got from your lowest point to your final success
5. Look for a "larger journey" in these points - something all these points have in common that fits into a larger story, some sort of "life long struggle"
6. Write in detail about how you got from a lowest point to your final success
7. Write out a lesson you learned from this experience of finding your success

Looking for the message,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Catch that title!

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you create a memorable "catchphrase" (sums up the core message of your speech) and put that phrase in your speech title.

Entitled,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com