In his book The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking, Dale Carnegie tells us how a young Winston Churchill, while addressing the British Parliament one day, drew a complete blank.
Churchill was forced to sit down, red-faced, defeated. The problem? He had memorized what he wanted to say. From that day onwards he only gave speeches from the heartŃand the rest, as they say, is history.
But up to that point, Churchill wrote out and laboriously memorized his speeches, word for word, as many beginners do. While it’s nice to have weeks to mull over what you want to say, that’s not always the case, especially in the fast-paced business world. But don’t fret: you too can be prepared to give a great speech with just a few tips.
1: When prepping a speech, choose your points and practice talking about those points until you can say what you need to.
2: Usually it’s best to keep it to three points per speech.
3: Use an example from personal experience.
4: Practice summarizing what you want to say to a willing friend.
Who knows? Maybe that speech over a pint at the local pub, or delivered in a fumbling-but-authentic manner at a job interview, will be the one that will fight them on the beaches of your career.