the way you practice a presentation
directly influences the outcome so in
this video we're going to talk about how
to practice a speech let's get into
those details hello there friends Alex
Lian and we are at the end of a
three-part series on public speaking
this month the first video is on the
importance of public speaking one before
this is on how to improve and this one
is specifically on how to practice a
speech so let's get into the five ways
that I recommend you practicing a speech
and at the end of this video you may
want to stick around because I have a
couple of resources to suggest to help
you move your public speaking to the
next level so the first way to practice
a speech is to practice from an outline
not word-for-word notes I've given some
version of this tip in a lot of
different videos but let's say it
clearly
you must practice from an outline a
bare-bones outline if you want to sound
conversational which is really what your
listeners want from you they don't want
you to read your speech they don't want
you to sound like you've memorized it
they want a conversation and the way to
get there is this you take whatever
notes you have to prepare at first your
first few drafts and then you just keep
cutting them down over and over again
every time you practice until all you're
left with is a bulleted outline of your
key points that you are going to hit
that's all you really want in the end
and that way you have a safety net to
fall back on so you won't ever lose your
place you can just glance down at your
notes and then bounce your eyes right
back up and present from an outline
that's the best way practice from an
outline and in the end present like an
outline one of the things I will do in
fact is so I don't sound like I've
memorized it I don't sound like a robot
is every time I practice I might say it
a little differently on purpose so that
I'm not tempted to memorize so don't try
to put it word for it don't try to
memorize talking points only and
practice from that kind of outline the
number two tip how to practice is to
spread out your practice sessions over
time don't cram the night before don't
cram the morning
for your presentation I recommend
spreading your practice sessions out
over three days
the idea is to practice about three
times each day over those three days I
like to practice about 10 times before I
stand up and speak and it's really
easier to do if you spread it out a lot
of great things happen when you spread
out your practice sessions the first
thing that happens to me is it calms me
down it says to me hey there's time so
if my earliest few practice sessions
practice times through don't go so well
I say hey there's time no problem I got
a few more days I'll work out these
kinks another great thing that happens
is let's say I practice it three times
and then I sleep on it
oftentimes in the middle of the day and
I'm doing other things I'm washing
dishes my brain keeps working on and
keeps figuring out better ways to say
something or a quicker way to get to the
point so in that down time I believe
that our brains are still working on it
and we benefit from that down time as
well the other great thing about
breaking up your practice sessions is it
helps me with my composure in the moment
because it feels to me like muscle
memory with an athlete that I've done
this before like I've been doing this
presentation for days so it really helps
me stay composed and in the moment so
spread out those practice sessions three
times a day over three days that usually
is about what you need the number three
tip is to focus on only one or two
improvements each time you practice it
through so you might just work on your
structure and your outline the first few
times through that's normal the next few
times through just pick one or two
things like oh now I'm just gonna work
on looking up from my outline eye
contact for example the next time
through you might just work on gestures
and your posture a little bit every time
you practice add one or two things you
want to improve on because when you add
too many things all at once when you try
to get it perfect every time you
practice you're going to get paralyzed
because you can't really improve more
than one thing or maybe two things in
any given practice session so focus on
improvements and then start checking
those off the list and then your
fundamentals will all be in place by the
time you actually stand up to present
number four tip is to keep practice
sessions realistic
- not for example the whole time you're
practicing isolate yourself completely
and make conditions perfect because what
ends up happening in the moment of your
actual presentation is it won't go
perfectly people will walk in late or
they'll get up to use the bathroom or
there'll be somebody with a lawnmower
outside your window in fact I've been
recording this morning and there's a
neighbor working with a chainsaw nearby
that keeps distracting me but you just
power through it so after a few times
practicing alone what I end up doing
when I practice is I add distractions on
purpose like I will put the television
or some music on and then I'll talk over
that because it creates a little bit of
noise and distraction for me to cope
with and I know that if I can practice
through those distractions that during
the actual moment I'll be ready to push
through even if something weird or odd
happens it won't throw me off as much so
keep practice sessions realistic and the
number 5 tip is to visualize the first
30 seconds and the last 30 seconds of
your presentation so by visualization I
mean the way a sports athlete does it so
you picture yourself walking up there
that first 30 seconds of the moment
starting off your presentation and then
the last 30 seconds of how you're gonna
close so athletes do this with great
success there was a study by Lauri
Eckhart published in the 1980s and a lot
of other studies like it on basketball
free-throw shooting and they found
people that only visualized actually did
improve a little bit people who
practiced free-throws
basketball free-throws improved a little
more but athletes who did both they
visualized and they practiced did the
most improvement out of any of the
groups so by visualizing their first 30
seconds and last 30 seconds you're going
to be boosting your overall performance
up quite a bit even if you don't get to
practice it a few extra sessions so
those are the five tips I recommend in
terms of how to practice for our speech
these are the ones I use personally and
I have coached a lot of people over the
years to use them and they really do
work so put them into practice as soon
as possible so I mentioned a couple of
resources at the beginning I wanted to
tell you about that or for you the first
one is a free pdf download it's
instant tips to make you a more
confident and composed public speaker
you put your email address in and I
email you those instant tips it's a PDF
download and the second resource is a
full course that I have created called
presents like a pro it's a whole course
and it's designed to help you become a
top 10% speaker in your professional
settings so if you really want to get
into it invite you to check that out the
links to all these resources are in the
description below the video so a
question of the day how do you recommend
practicing your presentations that help
you the most I would love to hear your
thoughts on what helps you in that
section below the video I look forward
to reading those comments so thanks god
bless and I will see you soon