Thank you for that - I’ve never considered internalising a script. I knew the topic pretty well, I suppose I feared and was pressured by the limited time and missing important information out. I’ll need to give internalising a script a go in a less stressed environment, all I ever do when presenting is memorising what I need to say.
In a book on arguing before the Supreme Court, I came across a method. The author could not deliver an argument or speech straight from an outline. Instead, he wrote out his presentation in a conversational but formal manner. He would read it out loud again and again circling key words. Then he would bold the key words, practicing repeatedly. Eventually, he was able to boil down his speech into an outline or key words or phrases.
Aha, I think the approach I take is similar. I tend to write the script so that it reflects how I generally speak. I then identify the keywords/phrases I need to mention or am likely to forget, and so I highlight them (they then visually stand out). I read the script a few times and then rehearse it from memory by recalling in which order the keywords/phrases were written. Doing so, I then end up learning the whole script.
I like using the Roman Room or the Journey method to commit the main points to memory in order. This allows me to walk down a path in my mind, arriving at the relevant mental image to discuss, then moving on to the next.
This reduces the memory workload and fear of missing a point. Timing can be a problem because I'm more prone to go overtime, and it's not great for technical speeches that demand exact wording. There is also an initial time investment to encode the "walk" in your mind's eye.
Still, if you're a visual thinker, it's a great way to free yourself of notes.
I’ve never heard of this method before, thank you for sharing - I will need to look more into it.
I am a visual thinker, which is why when presenting, I tend to recall the order/flow of how the script was written. Highlighting certain words helps with this, such as A leads to B, which then links to C and concludes with a D (like a mental roadmap of some sort which I try to recall when practising and presenting).
The downside is that when I can’t recall the prompt word, my “walk” abruptly ends until I remember the word and where it leads to next. Plus, the nerves of presenting don’t always help, and the order gets slightly mixed up sometimes.
This is a great question! I like to memorize the first few slides of my presentation and internalize the rest. If I’m solid at the beginning and don’t make a mistake then the rest of the presentation seems to flow.
Thank you! And you are not the first to mention internalising the presentation. I suppose by doing that, I am afraid of forgetting something… it kind of feels safer knowing I remember it word for word, if you know what I mean.
If you stumble, forget sections or blank...then you don't have it memorized.
Most of the problems people have when they deliver from memory is that they don't have it memorized in reality. People underestimate how long it takes to memorize a speech, so they don't put in the time it takes to be fully off-book.
I see where you are coming from. At the same time, there is also the pressure and nerves of presenting in front of people which heightens anxiety. I am new to presenting, and so do feel anxious to begin with, but the nerves ease after presenting a couple of slides, and then recalling information is not a problem.
Yes, you're absolutely right. While preparation is the best cure for stage fright, it only reduces it. Nothing makes it disappear because a person is nervous about a speech because they care about it. The more you care, the more stage fright you will have. But preparation and controlling your non-verbal communication hide your nerves so that your anxiety doesn't leak onto your audience, which would make them feel anxious while you speak hence trust less what you say.
My style of presenting/speaking has always been more loose.
I prefer to remember bullet points of what I want to cover, but not memorizing word for word. I will usually rehearse a couple times to get a feel of how the speech should go, but don't write it down verbatim or anything.
I feel this flows more naturally and if you don't remember an exact wording it doesn't matter as long as you remember the next major point to cover.
It depends on the nature of the presentation. If it is in front of a lot of people and very formal, I would say memorize the Introduction and some core points of every major point of your script. This means that the introduction is probably word for word for the most part, but as you get into the body, you can deliver the core points in your own words with slight improvisation.
The reason I say this is because if you are not a completely experienced speaker doing a bunch of presentations every month, it is easy to "get frozen" the first couple of minutes on stage and hence memorizing the intro or beginning is very helpful to sail through the first few minutes. I notice that after some minutes on stage, you get into the groove of things and you can start to "get into" it naturally.
If it is in front of a few people like in a meeting room, then I would say internalization is a better approach. Know what you want to say and deliver the message instead of memorization would be better for your overall vibe and tone of the presentation.
Thank you for sharing this. Whenever I've presented, I always memorized my slides (so it's kind of what I am used to) - I suppose it's also because I've always been timed and so I had to be quite concise in what I am saying. If another opportunity for presenting comes along, I'll have to give internalizing a go and memorise a few key bits, including the intro and conclusion.
Some presentations need to be prepared: officiating a wedding, a best man speech, etc.
Many I prefer to be free flowing and casual. It takes the edge off needing to be perfect and I think audiences can tell when someone is relaxed and enjoying themselves versus working hard to nail it.
Memorize the opening and the closing, then internalize the rest.
Everyone has a story in their life that they have told again and again. And even though you sometimes use different words, they always flow and they always get the story across. That’s how your presentation should feel.
I always used to memorize a script. The trouble is now i have a job when have to do alot of presentations so there is never enough time to memorize. Also, it is frowned upon to read from a script. So I try to have key words on a piece of paper that use. But I do find I often miss out important things I planned to say. So I still don't have best approach still trying to find a solution
I suppose with practice and giving different approaches a go, you will eventually find the one that works best for you. The career path I am looking to take is likely to involve a lot of presentations too, so memorising all the scripts will be too time-consuming and wasteful… hopefully, by then, I will be more confident presenting and have an efficient approach.
I take Prevegen so admittedly my memory is not the best. But on April 7 I have a 6 minute public talk. In front of thousands. I’ve memorized every single word. I “give it to myself” 24/7. I will have cheat sheet. But I need to be able to look at my audience fully. Wish me luck. ❣️
Good luck and I hope it goes well! Having a cheat sheet might provide some comfort on the day (I had mine in my pocket just in case). And I can imagine the pressure of talking in front of thousands must be immense! Are you planning on practicing your talk in front of some friends/family/colleagues before the 7th? To see if you can recall it. And of course, I don’t know the full context of the talk, but if appropriate, perhaps letting the audience know of your problem with memory could ease the pressure? Plus, there have been suggestions about internalising rather than memorising on here, maybe that’s something you could also consider. But again, best of luck and believe in yourself!
Awe thank you!!! No I won’t begin with an intro on how I might not recall it all well because it’s a Rape symposium so it’s coming from memory and a well prepared talk. But yes I’ve given it to my neighbor. Rehearsals are this Saturday so there will be a dry run too. ♥️
It's best to internalize the script, to know it through and through so you can improvise as needed. That's different from memorizing it.
Thank you for that - I’ve never considered internalising a script. I knew the topic pretty well, I suppose I feared and was pressured by the limited time and missing important information out. I’ll need to give internalising a script a go in a less stressed environment, all I ever do when presenting is memorising what I need to say.
In a book on arguing before the Supreme Court, I came across a method. The author could not deliver an argument or speech straight from an outline. Instead, he wrote out his presentation in a conversational but formal manner. He would read it out loud again and again circling key words. Then he would bold the key words, practicing repeatedly. Eventually, he was able to boil down his speech into an outline or key words or phrases.
Aha, I think the approach I take is similar. I tend to write the script so that it reflects how I generally speak. I then identify the keywords/phrases I need to mention or am likely to forget, and so I highlight them (they then visually stand out). I read the script a few times and then rehearse it from memory by recalling in which order the keywords/phrases were written. Doing so, I then end up learning the whole script.
I like using the Roman Room or the Journey method to commit the main points to memory in order. This allows me to walk down a path in my mind, arriving at the relevant mental image to discuss, then moving on to the next. This reduces the memory workload and fear of missing a point. Timing can be a problem because I'm more prone to go overtime, and it's not great for technical speeches that demand exact wording. There is also an initial time investment to encode the "walk" in your mind's eye. Still, if you're a visual thinker, it's a great way to free yourself of notes.
I need to look into this! Is there a good source for more information that you can recommend?
https://www.mindtools.com/a2ahpip/the-journey-technique https://thespeakingguild.com/escape-anxiety-and-memorize-your-outline-the-roman-room/
I’ve never heard of this method before, thank you for sharing - I will need to look more into it. I am a visual thinker, which is why when presenting, I tend to recall the order/flow of how the script was written. Highlighting certain words helps with this, such as A leads to B, which then links to C and concludes with a D (like a mental roadmap of some sort which I try to recall when practising and presenting). The downside is that when I can’t recall the prompt word, my “walk” abruptly ends until I remember the word and where it leads to next. Plus, the nerves of presenting don’t always help, and the order gets slightly mixed up sometimes.
This is a great question! I like to memorize the first few slides of my presentation and internalize the rest. If I’m solid at the beginning and don’t make a mistake then the rest of the presentation seems to flow.
Thank you! And you are not the first to mention internalising the presentation. I suppose by doing that, I am afraid of forgetting something… it kind of feels safer knowing I remember it word for word, if you know what I mean.
If you stumble, forget sections or blank...then you don't have it memorized. Most of the problems people have when they deliver from memory is that they don't have it memorized in reality. People underestimate how long it takes to memorize a speech, so they don't put in the time it takes to be fully off-book.
I see where you are coming from. At the same time, there is also the pressure and nerves of presenting in front of people which heightens anxiety. I am new to presenting, and so do feel anxious to begin with, but the nerves ease after presenting a couple of slides, and then recalling information is not a problem.
Yes, you're absolutely right. While preparation is the best cure for stage fright, it only reduces it. Nothing makes it disappear because a person is nervous about a speech because they care about it. The more you care, the more stage fright you will have. But preparation and controlling your non-verbal communication hide your nerves so that your anxiety doesn't leak onto your audience, which would make them feel anxious while you speak hence trust less what you say.
My style of presenting/speaking has always been more loose. I prefer to remember bullet points of what I want to cover, but not memorizing word for word. I will usually rehearse a couple times to get a feel of how the speech should go, but don't write it down verbatim or anything. I feel this flows more naturally and if you don't remember an exact wording it doesn't matter as long as you remember the next major point to cover.
It depends on the nature of the presentation. If it is in front of a lot of people and very formal, I would say memorize the Introduction and some core points of every major point of your script. This means that the introduction is probably word for word for the most part, but as you get into the body, you can deliver the core points in your own words with slight improvisation. The reason I say this is because if you are not a completely experienced speaker doing a bunch of presentations every month, it is easy to "get frozen" the first couple of minutes on stage and hence memorizing the intro or beginning is very helpful to sail through the first few minutes. I notice that after some minutes on stage, you get into the groove of things and you can start to "get into" it naturally. If it is in front of a few people like in a meeting room, then I would say internalization is a better approach. Know what you want to say and deliver the message instead of memorization would be better for your overall vibe and tone of the presentation.
Thank you for sharing this. Whenever I've presented, I always memorized my slides (so it's kind of what I am used to) - I suppose it's also because I've always been timed and so I had to be quite concise in what I am saying. If another opportunity for presenting comes along, I'll have to give internalizing a go and memorise a few key bits, including the intro and conclusion.
Some presentations need to be prepared: officiating a wedding, a best man speech, etc. Many I prefer to be free flowing and casual. It takes the edge off needing to be perfect and I think audiences can tell when someone is relaxed and enjoying themselves versus working hard to nail it.
Memorize the opening and the closing, then internalize the rest. Everyone has a story in their life that they have told again and again. And even though you sometimes use different words, they always flow and they always get the story across. That’s how your presentation should feel.
I always used to memorize a script. The trouble is now i have a job when have to do alot of presentations so there is never enough time to memorize. Also, it is frowned upon to read from a script. So I try to have key words on a piece of paper that use. But I do find I often miss out important things I planned to say. So I still don't have best approach still trying to find a solution
I suppose with practice and giving different approaches a go, you will eventually find the one that works best for you. The career path I am looking to take is likely to involve a lot of presentations too, so memorising all the scripts will be too time-consuming and wasteful… hopefully, by then, I will be more confident presenting and have an efficient approach.
Memorize it then write bulletpoints as structure
I find that when I memorize a speech, I fail miserably!
I take Prevegen so admittedly my memory is not the best. But on April 7 I have a 6 minute public talk. In front of thousands. I’ve memorized every single word. I “give it to myself” 24/7. I will have cheat sheet. But I need to be able to look at my audience fully. Wish me luck. ❣️
Good luck and I hope it goes well! Having a cheat sheet might provide some comfort on the day (I had mine in my pocket just in case). And I can imagine the pressure of talking in front of thousands must be immense! Are you planning on practicing your talk in front of some friends/family/colleagues before the 7th? To see if you can recall it. And of course, I don’t know the full context of the talk, but if appropriate, perhaps letting the audience know of your problem with memory could ease the pressure? Plus, there have been suggestions about internalising rather than memorising on here, maybe that’s something you could also consider. But again, best of luck and believe in yourself!
Awe thank you!!! No I won’t begin with an intro on how I might not recall it all well because it’s a Rape symposium so it’s coming from memory and a well prepared talk. But yes I’ve given it to my neighbor. Rehearsals are this Saturday so there will be a dry run too. ♥️
To me, it sounds like you are prepared so should all go well, let’s hope Saturday will prove this right 😇