So you want to create a public speaking speech outline because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to say in your upcoming speech. How do you do it?
Today I’ve got the seven steps to creating a public speaking speech outline.
[youtube id=”19IEhe-jkAU” mode=”normal” align=”center”]
Step#1: Brain dump
This step is not about creating a structure. We’re not putting things in order. We’re just dumping everything from our brain onto a piece of paper.
Write down any ideas that you have or stories that you’ve heard. Write down any facts that you know or websites that you’ve heard of. Write down experiences that other people have had or beliefs that you uphold.
Just write down all the things that you can think of that have to do with your topic. This should probably take five to fifteen minutes.
Step#2: Do research
The brain dump is everything out of our mind. Now we want to do some research on our topic and add to our brain dump.
We can get some great facts, ideas, stories, news articles or examples from the internet or a library. Do your research so you can add to your total content pool.
Step#3: Gather
Now we’re gathering everything – from both our brain dump and our research – together in a big bundle.
We’re not organising that research. We’re simply collecting it in one place so we can see it all and recognise it all at once.
Step#4: Organise
Consider what your main points are and look at the data you’ve collected.
Look at the content from your brain dump and your research and see how they connect with each other. How does a personal experience connect with a fact that you found on the internet?
We also want to look at what stories and what facts best support certain points that you want to get across.
So now we’re starting to organise our brain dump and our research underneath main points in our presentation. We are also creating a rough draft of our outline – the introduction, the body and the conclusion.
Step#5: Remove items
Some of the best speeches that I’ve ever heard had one point. And why are they the best? Because I actually remembered them. You’re lucky if people remember 5% of what you say in a public speech.
We don’t want to try and do too much and that is why step number give is to start removing items.
Look at the points you want to get across and consider which of them are truly essential. Can you shorten any points? Can you remove any entirely? What’s going to be most effective for our audience to get the message across?
Step#6: Review it
Go through your rough outline and review it. See if your points link together and if they’re in the most effective order. Reorganise your speech if necessary.
Step#7: Create and practise
This is the final step. Extrapolate out your stories and figure out exactly what you want to say. How will you tie your stories in with your main points? How are you going to make the transition from one point to another? How am I going to introduce it? How am I going to conclude it?
Ask yourself all of these questions and create your speech in full.
Then practise it! Make sure that everything flows. Make cue cards if necessary. Deliver our speech in the privacy of your own home. Film yourself on video or watch yourself in the mirror or do it in front of your family. But practise.
So that is the best way that I have found to create a speech outline. Go out now, start your brain dump, and create your speech. I hope that these seven steps to creating a public speaking speech outline have helped you.
