Public Speaking: Liven Up Your Speech by Preparing, Not Practicing

Every once in a while, I have a dream where I’m about to go on stage to play the lead in a musical and I don’t know my part, my lines, my songs, or even what musical I’m singing in. It’s a terrifying feeling, and I feel so relieved when I wake up.

Perhaps you have had a similar dream, or rather, a nightmare. There’s something really scary about being in the spotlight, having something expected of you and not knowing what the hell to do.

That’s why so many public speaking experts will tell you that in order to feel anxiety-free and confident when speaking, you need to practice, practice, practice your speech over and over again. And then practice some more. These experts are trying to save you from the nightmare of being unprepared in the spotlight. And while your intentions are good, your advice may not be.

But there are some serious downsides to this practice, practice, practice approach, especially if you’re new to public speaking:

— Your speech can become a robotic recitation.

–You can get so bored with your own speech that you don’t have much fun delivering it, and your audience doesn’t have much fun listening to it.

–You try so hard to get your speech out of your mouth only so that when something unexpected happens, like you forget a certain phrase or fact, or a busboy drops a tray of glasses, you freak out and lose your composition.

–But more importantly, you’re too focused on “delivering” your speech instead of connecting with your audience.

Talking is communicating, not acting. If in your desire to get it right, you over-practice to the point of losing the conversational feel of your speech, you may entertain and inform your audience, but you won’t engage them.

Let your speech be a conversation, an experience co-created between you and your audience. Create enough space and room to play within your speech so that you can respond to what is happening between you and your audience moment by moment. Because remember, even if you’re the only one talking, there’s still a conversation going on. There is always a constant exchange of energy, attention, and even information between you and your audience.

So get ready and practice a bit before you give your speech. By this I mean knowing your material well enough to have a passionate conversation about it. Be clear about what you mean without saying it the exact same way every time. Yes, you want to have a structure for your speech, a beginning, middle, and end that includes the points you want to make, as well as stories, statistics, and anecdotes. But within this structure there must be a lot of flexibility and room for spontaneity.

Am I saying you don’t need to practice? No way. You definitely need to practice what you have prepared. Practice taking each section of your speech and allowing yourself to talk about it easily and conversationally. Then, practice it in its entirety while imagining that you are talking to a friend and telling them all about it. Play around with your speech in this way until you feel comfortable with its structure and content, but not to the point where every word and phrase is etched in steel.

Preparing and practicing in this way will keep you and your speech fresh, flowing, and fun for both you and your audience.