The Art of Speech Rehearsal
Here’s the situation: you’re a few weeks away from giving a 20-minute presentation to a group you’ve been wanting to speak to for months, maybe years. But since you haven’t spoken for awhile, you’ve got to get back up to speed.
Or perhaps you’ve been speaking regularly, but your topic has been the same and you’re doing nothing more than a little tweaking on your content to fit each group.
Whatever the case, you know you have to rehearse your presentation, and it’s a been awhile since you’ve actually done serious rehearsals of a ‘new’ speech.
There are a number of ways to go about rehearsing and shaping your speech and you’ve got to find the way that works for you.
For me, if it’s a new topic or a brand new take on a familiar topic, I’ll start from scratch. To me, that means I’ll typically jot down the three major points I want to make. Then I pencil in a few supporting points for each major point. If it comes to me, I’ll write down a grabber question or a bold statement to open the speech. Then, if the call to action is clear, I’ll detail that. If it’s not entirely clear, I’ll make a few notes about how I think it might go.
And then I turn on the tape recorder and start ad-libbing the speech, based on my notes. I’ll start a timer and see how long the whole thing is.
Having a tape recorder (okay, a digital audio recorder – tape is a little past its prime!) is the key element to rehearsing. You don’t need video, although if that’s all you have, that works as well.
By recording the rehearsals I get immediate benefits: by knowing that what I’m saying is being recorded, it helps focus my mind, and secondly, I can go back and pull notes from the recording if some story or anecdote pops to my mind. Yeah, it helps me remember things that I might otherwise lose.
After the first run through, depending on the approach I want to take, I may sit down at the keyboard, listen to the recording, and make more notes. I may write out the opening and close verbatim.
After a bit, it’s time for a second run-through. By this time, I’ve usually moved sections of the speech around. I’ve added new information or stories (remember, stories are important!), thrown out material that either didn’t fit as appropriate content or in the flow of the speech; by now the presentation has a significantly different feel to than the first.
Go through the same process as your first run-through: slice and dice your speech, figure out which parts work and flow, and move sections around until it feels right.
Your ‘recording your rehearsals’ stage may take only three or four run-throughs, or you may elect to record every one up until the time of your presentation.
Speechcraft and Rehearsal Tips
1. When doing your recorded rehearsals, don’t be afraid to ramble and throw things in that just pop into your head. You’ll have plenty of time later to decide if they fit.
2. Listening back to your recordings is not mandatory. Yes, it’s a good idea, but the simple act of recording helps you to keep your mind focused.
3. Record your actual speech. When you get to the location of your speech, it’s easy to take a small digital recording device that you can turn on just before your presentation and set on the lectern or podium.
