Every Speech Maker Must Have Something To Say

Every speech maker must have something to say….
If you do find a spark which will fire your listeners to growth, change and/or action, you will need to provide a target toward which they may aim…
The topic you pick must inspire you, and in turn, inspire listeners.  Therefore…

1. Pick a definite subject of theme
2. Research the topic and know it well
3. Think each point through
4. Make notes, but do not write out the presentation word for word
5. Organize your notes in a logical order
6. Write down a main series of points
7. Discard materials accumulated that do not contribute to the development of your points
8. Don’t look lightly on personal experience or examples
9. General quotations, facts, general statistics, some humor… are all important
10. Ideas are nightstalkers… be prepared with pencil and pad at your bedside and throughout the day

Learn for yourself, then practice for yourself, and your abilities to express thoughts will rise to great heights.
When you practice speaking, trying to say everything in the same order tends toward memorizing, which is often stiff and uninspiring.
Remember the audience only hears what you have to say once, and they will never know what you intended and what you didn’t do or what you left out…. unless you tell them…. so do not.
Remember to use an outline, and not verbatim notes.
Be willing and able to speak with some measure of flexibility and not from memorization only.