You're overwhelmed by public speaking prep. How can you make the most of your time?

When you're feeling overwhelmed by public speaking prep, knowing your topic inside out can make things much easier. Start by breaking your topic into small, manageable pieces. Focus on the key points you want to share and understand them really well. Make sure you internalize and understand the overall context from every angle. Avoid learning by rote or mugging up any points. When you internalize your message you can speak authentically and be spontaneous. This will give you confidence. Practice in front of a mirror or by explaining your points in simple terms, to a friend / peers. The better you know your topic, the more comfortable you'll feel, and the less time you'll spend stressing about your speech.

Knowing your topic inside and out makes prepping way easier. It helps you zero in on what's important, boosting your confidence and making your delivery smoother. You can whip up more relevant visuals, handle questions effortlessly, and adjust as needed. Plus, it makes practice more focused and lets you tweak things based on feedback. Your expertise shines through, building credibility and making your prep time more efficient.

The key to delivering good speeches is still having a genuine, heartfelt and passionate subject matter. The topic has to matter to YOU, the speaker, before it can resonate with the audience. So focus on crafting content that connects to you. Then work on how to make the topic connect with your audience using your personal strengths in either vocal variety, body language etc. Focus on the key messages that you want to deliver to the audience and the rest can follow because the audience can pick up on your sincerity and passion on the topic.

Creating a strong outline is essential for keeping your speech focused and engaging. AI tools like ChatGPT can be invaluable in this process, helping you refine your key points and simplify complex ideas. These tools can suggest more straightforward language and help ensure your message is clear and accessible to everyone. By leveraging AI, you can save time and ensure that your speech flows naturally, with well-connected ideas. Remember, using AI supports your expertise by enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of your communication.

Structuring your talk makes a big difference! Kick off with a hook to grab attention and outline what’s coming. Break the body into a few key points, with smooth transitions so your audience can easily follow along. Wrap it up by summarizing what you’ve covered, adding a strong call to action, and opening the floor for questions. This approach keeps things clear, engaging, and memorable, making it easier for everyone to stay with you and take away your main messages.

Try to supplement your practices of giving the speech with the visualisation technique to help you through the details. You visualise a deep mental image of how you want your speech to be on the actual day. Find a quiet place & close your eyes to "walk" through every step in your mind every detail, e.g. 1. Venue - Hall? Room? Check out images on the Internet of crowd sizes to help you get a feel. What's the lay of the land? 2. Audience - imagine their reaction, response, body language, how are they seated, posture during your speech. 3. Speech impact - what do you hope will happen? Audience eating out of your hand as you speak? Imagine that. 4. Hand gestures, facial expressions - actually do these to familiarise yourself with these.

I have found that recording oneself practising the speech is one of the useful ways to see how we perform. It may feel cringey because you can see and hear clearly all the mistakes that one makes but that is how we can improve when the mistakes are made explicit by the recording.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by public speaking prep, managing anxiety is key. Start by breaking down your prep into manageable chunks and setting clear, achievable goals. Use tech tools to record and review your practice, and apps to organize your speech. Focus on practicing the parts that make you nervous and get used to your speaking environment by simulating it. Don't hesitate to reach out to mentors or a coach for feedback and support. To keep anxiety in check, try mindfulness techniques, take regular breaks, and maintain good sleep and exercise habits. And remember, visualizing a successful presentation can really boost your confidence.

Acknowledge both the psychological and psychological aspects of the preparation process. Physically: I was once told that breathing through your lower abdomen triggers calming nerves, while breathing through your upper abdomen/chest causes a reaction more akin to the stressful panic response. I try to take one to three full deep breaths with that method during prep and before showtime. Psychologically, reminding myself that most people want me to do well helps quite a bit. I also make sure to practice without notes quite a few times so that my brain gets used to straying from the script (as is inevitable), and I can grow in my resilience to the impact of the nervousness.

Some level of nervousness reflects that you feel that the speech is important to you. Focus on what you can control like remembering your key points and anecdotes, the key opening and closing statements and what you want to convey to the audience. Techniques such as breathing and visualization exercises can help but at the end of the day, if you believe in the importance of your message, your body will react to what the mind wills towards your objective.

From my experience, somewhere between 60-90% of a given presentation can be made great by yourself (depending on your expertise, passion, etc.) Closing that gap to make it holistically excellent and versatile in its impact/relatability requires outside feedback, because one person just doesn't have the wisdom and perspective of 2 or more people. Try not to translate the feedback into thinking your original draft was bad. View every revision as an opportunity for refinement, to capture the attention and retention of even more audience members.