How to prepare for the biggest speech of your life

Hey there Greenblasters.

I’m coming to you a day late, because this time I thought I’d send something quick, rather than wait a full week. But:

I’m preparing for Speaker Slam on Tuesday, and between that and my Pitch Workshop this week, I forgot to schedule this newsletter!

But I wanted to share a technique I’m using to memorize my 5-minute Speaker Slam speech, so YOU can apply it to any pitch or presentation you have coming up.

Take a look:

I wrote this out, about 900 words, by hand.

WHY?? you may ask.

Well, a few reasons:

1. Writing by hand has numerous benefits for learning and memory, so this will help me memorize my script

2. Variety is a great tool for rehearsal; this allows me to spend time with the words in a different way than reading out loud

3. The slow, painstaking process of handwriting lets me really think through the logic and emotion of my story, and I made some good edits

4. It required sustained focus, something hugely important and sorely lacking in today’s world (especially for me).

I’m so glad I did this, and although I’m still nervous that my speech is too long, this was an incredible exercise that I highly recommend.

As for the rest of my rehearsal process, I’ll be:

• rehearsing it out loud

• filming myself (and watching it back!)

• practicing pauses, emphasis, and pacing

• using my body language to paint the scenes in my story

• and “emotional recall”, trying to remember the physical feelings during moments in my story, as I felt them at the time

I’ll try and do it OUT LOUD AT LEAST 10 TIMES before next Tuesday.

I’ll write about my Speaker Slam experience for next week’s Greenblast, when it’ll be fresh. If you’re at all interested in being there, here’s the event page.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to this weird, wacky, weekly public speaking rant. I love you all.

Greenblast, out 🚀