A talk is a voyage with a purpose, and it must be charted. The man who starts out going nowhere, generally gets there. – Dale Carnegie
Where are you taking your audience?
A speech format is like a map. You are the driver when you deliver a speech, and the audience members are your passengers. They want to know where you are taking them, how long it will take to get there, and what they can expect to see along the way.
The Redundancy Format
One of the best “road maps” is what I call the redundancy format:
- Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em.
- Tell ’em.
- Tell ’em what you told ’em.
This simple yet effective structure looks like this:
-Opening: Announce your subject in the first sentence or paragraph. Speaker Jack Bernard calls it a mini commercial of what is to come.
-Body: Substantiate your topic
-Close: Repeat the main points of your topic
How much time do you have?
Knowing how much time you have and figuring out how many words that equals will go a LONG way in helping you format your talk.
A fifteen-twenty minute speech is approximately 2,000 words. Below is a sample format for a typical 10-15 minute speech or presentation:
- Initial greeting & opening (approximately 2 minutes): Grab the audience’s attention.
- Overview (approximately 2 minutes): Tell them about the three main points you are going to cover.
- Body (approximately 9 minutes – 3 minutes for each point): cover the points and reinforce each one with examples, stories, illustrations, facts, statistics, handouts, exercises, etc.
- Close (approximately 2 minutes): Summary of main points and call to action or inspiration.
Expand or streamline material according to time elements:
- 5-9 minutes: 1 or 2 points
- Less than 5 minutes: 1 point (obviously your most important point.)
Now, knowing how much material you can cover in your talk within the parameters of timing does not preclude you from following this excellent advice from Business Presentations and Public Speaking (First Books for Business)
Prepare more content than you can use, and keep this extra material thoroughly organized and ready for backup duty. Then, if you’re asked to fill more time or your audience asks tough questions, you’re better prepared to answer without that sudden ‘uh-oh” feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Format your Speech Using the Rule of Three
Tom Ogden master magician and entertainer, says: “The Rule of Three applies everywhere. To name some examples: the Trinity; the Three Bears; the Three Little Pigs; the Andrews Sisters; the Three Stooges; The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria…”
He says, “Series of three produce a rhythm that causes a positive and pleasing sense of completion and fulfillment. So many examples can be found in fact and fiction, in life and in storytelling, that it is valuable to relate the Rule of Three whenever possible.”
This means don’t try to cover more than 3 points in a presentation. If you have more than 3 points, then cluster them into groups of no more than 2-3 points within each group. Besides the tips offered by Tom above, most people can’t remember more than 3 points. I once took a memory course that used the “Rule of Three” grouping to aid memory retention. So, the rule not only assists the audience in terms of listening pleasure and retention of your message, it assists YOU, the presenter, in remembering your speech content and organization.
Additional Formats
PAST-PRESENT FUTURE: Chronological
Good structure for historical, financial, scientific, environmental, technological, political, and educational programs.
1. Begin with a brief history of the topic
2. Describe what is happening now
3. Finish with predictions or long-term projections
AIDA (ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE, AGREEMENT OR ACTION): Classic persuasive format
1. Arouse attention: Grab the audience with the senses
2. Stimulate interest: Stir their interest with an outrageous remark that makes the audience want more
3. Create desire: Appeal to key emotions such as virtue, power, image, greed or vanity.
4. Ask for Action or Agreement: Call to action. Let the audience know exactly what you want them to do
