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Many speeches only present two or three main points. First, define these main points. Then, spend the majority of the time diving into details, providing additional facts, and convincing the audience of your main points. Separating your speech into sections not only makes it easier to follow, but also makes it easier to remember! Storytelling is a great way to remember something because every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. If you lose your place, knowing the “story” of your speech can help you find it again! If possible, turn your entire speech into one story, and tell yourself you’ll be telling this story to the audience. For example, if your speech is about diabetes, see if you can frame your speech so you follow a day in the life of someone with diabetes. If that doesn’t fit your structure, try telling the life story of someone who got diagnosed, started treatment, and now lives with diabetes daily. Trying to memorize your speech word-for-word in a short period of time is nearly impossible! If you don’t have much time, focus on memorizing facts, and organizing those facts into a logical flow. Once you get up onstage, transform those facts into sentences.  For example, if you’re giving a speech about flight patterns over the United States, memorize how many planes are in the air at any given time, what the largest airports are, and how much money the top 5 airlines make per year. Organize your memorized facts into a logical chronology, but don’t worry about memorizing the exact sentence you need to say in order to present your information. If your speech topic contains many sub-topics, try associating each category of information with a single word or phrase. Then, when you get to a part of your speech, or if someone in the audience asks you a question, use that word to remember the relevant facts and information! For example, if you’re giving a speech about the species in the Everglades National Park, organize your facts into various categories depending on the animal species. That way, when someone in the audience asks you about birds of prey in the Everglades, you can recall the relevant information quickly and present it smoothly. Give your speech to yourself in front of a mirror at least once before you present it to the public. This can help you notice if anything doesn’t make sense or flow logically, and it can also help you start developing the hand gestures and posture you’ll use during the speech. You might be nervous about giving a speech because you keep imagining something going wrong. If that’s the case, work through what you might do if something did go wrong. Walk through how you might give your speech without your PowerPoint, or how you might find your train of thought if you lose it. For example, if you’re worried that you’ll lose your train of thought, spend some time running over your speech structure. That way, if you do actually lose your train of thought while giving your speech, you’ll know what comes next, and you’ll be able to get back on track!
Separate your speech into sections. Turn your speech into a story. Memorize facts if you don’t have much time to prepare. Organize your information into categories if you have to give a speech about a wide variety of topics. Practice in front of a mirror to smooth out any kinks. Create a contingency plan.