One of the most memorable experiences of 7th grade was Toastmaster’s Club. Every day, a few representatives of Toastmasters would come to school and teach us about public speaking. We were required to make speeches every three or four weeks.
Now there were some people that literally prepared for three or four weeks, revising and typing everything up.
There were some that didn’t think about it until Wednesday afternoon, who wouldn’t make nearly the alloted time and would always mess up.
Then there were some like me, who easily learned the art of winging speeches.
Every Wednesday morning, I would wake up and think…
Spontaneosity
“What shall I talk about today?”
As this is generally seen as irresponsible and foolish, I will have assure you that this was completely planned. I planned to forget, because the less I think about the speech, the better the speech is.
Sometime during the day, I decide what I want to talk about, find five minutes to research it, and do my best to not think about it.
Planning is your worst enemy
For some reason we’re educated to think that planning your speeches is the best way to prepare for them. This is not true. While I do outline the general things I’ll go over and how much time I’m willing to spend on them, I don’t write out my speeches word for word.
Learn
Make every speech you give a lesson. Even when giving a minor demonstration, try to get the best feedback you can so you can do better the next time.
Be Inspired
I tend to draw inspiration from pictures of nature or massive posters of waterfalls when I’m about to make a speech — especially powerful looking images. This allows me to think powerful thoughts, and reflect those thoughts onto my audience. It’s a silly idea, but it works.
