How to practice a speech

“I gave this speech to my dogs earlier.”

When the guest speaker at a recent event I attended shared that insight into his preparation for his talk, I laughed out loud with the rest of the room. I appreciated the humor, and because I help people craft and prepare for talks and presentations, I really appreciated that this speaker acknowledged his preparation, even if he went about it in a less conventional way.

Shockingly, preparing and practicing for a speech is something a lot of people don’t do. Or at least, they don’t do enough of it. Sure, some events and presentations don’t require as much preparation. If it’s an informal meeting on content you know well, then not much practice is needed. (Preparation, however, is always needed.)

For higher stakes presentations, like keynotes or TEDx talks, practice is essential to success. Once you have an outline or a full script (which I prefer), and you’ve timed yourself to ensure the length is right, it’s time to practice. After all, practice is what separates great speakers from mediocre ones.

Practicing helps you refine your speech

Once your outline or script for your presentation is complete, practicing it out loud can help you catch the elements that are too long, too short, or just don’t sound right. You may notice that you’ve left out a key point or spent too much time belaboring an idea. Go through your speech out loud a few times and you’ll start to notice some of the rough edges. Rework it a bit, then practice again.

Once you’ve smoothed the rough edges, keep practicing. Dogs are a great audience when you are refining, but for higher stakes presentations, find some humans as test audiences. Ask for their feedback to help you refine your talk. Here are some questions you can ask:

• Did I grab your attention right away?

• Was there any place where you got lost?

• Does it feel like there are any gaps in the story?

• Were the parts that were supposed to be humorous indeed funny or were they awkward? 

• Did you find yourself feeling bored at any point?

• Do you understand the main idea, and are my points clear?

Practicing helps you internalize your talk

It’s very hard for a speaker to sound natural when reading a script, and the monotone nature and loss of inflection can be incredibly boring to the audience. Before long, they’re daydreaming, or worse, scrolling Instagram. It’s far better to use a few notes or none at all then take the stage with a full script in hand. No one likes being read a speech from a speaker who is too busy looking at the paper to see the audience.

The more you practice, the more you begin to know your speech and the less you need to rely on your notes. Some call this memorization, but I prefer to call it internalization. You may not memorize it word for word, but you know what you want to say and when, and how long it should take.

Tips for practicing your speech or presentation

Here are a few tips for practicing your presentation:

1) First of all, you need to set aside the time to practice. It’s very easy to procrastinate on speech preparation, but it’s not wise. The easiest way to make time is to schedule it. Block some time once a week on your calendar to work on your presentation, or better yet, create a project schedule for the entire speech process with action items and due dates.

2) Write out your entire script versus using an outline. Start with reading the script, then use the outline on notecards, then the outline on one notecard, then keywords. Gradually get to the point where you don't need anything. 

3) Keep practicing past that point where you know it but you still have to work to recall each part. The key is pushing past this stage until you arrive at the place where you can give your talk no matter where you are or what you are doing. 

4) Use some memory tricks to aid the process. You can record yourself giving the speech and listen to it frequently. You can lay out the key points on paper across the room to give yourself a visual and spatial memory of your key points, or build a memory palace.

Later, once you've memorized your presentation, go back to your test audience, deliver your speech and ask:

• Did I make eye contact?

• Did I sound conversational?

• Did I talk too fast? Or too slow?

• Did you notice any glaring habits? (shifting from side to side, saying "you know")

• Did my body language seem natural?

You really can't practice a speech or presentation too much. Practice to yourself, practice to the dogs, practice to your friends, family, and even a willing stranger. Do it as much as you can and you’ll find that your speech is clearer, more interesting, more memorable — and you are comfortable on the stage.

…

If you liked this post, don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter so you can get more great content about communicating with your audience right in your inbox.

More on preparing speeches and presentations:

One secret to keeping your audience engaged

Three things you need to know before you write a speech

(Photo by Bruce Warrington on Unsplash.)