How to Annotate a Speech

Delivering a speech can be nerve-racking, but annotation can help put you at ease.

Great orators practice before they stand before a podium to deliver a speech. Although it comes naturally to some, delivering a knock-out speech takes hours of writing, revising and practicing. As the minutes tick down to the due date, the pressure mounts. To combat the nervous butterflies in your stomach, simple annotations can help ease the stress of delivering a speech.

Instructions

1. Practice many times before you deliver the speech. Notice natural patterns of when you pause, look up, draw a breath or gesture.

2. Note when each of these natural patterns occurs, so you do not forget how you usually act.

3. Create a short script. Instead of writing "take a long breath and look at the audience," shorten it to "breathe + look." These annotations are your own, so create something that is natural to you. Other annotations that you can use are "look at the audience," "slow down" and "take sip of water."

4. Practice your speech with these new annotations. If they do not work, change them until the arrangement feels comfortable.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid using other people's annotations. It may confuse you while you are delivering the speech.

• Annotate whatever you think you may need. Even simple things, such as "clear throat," are admissible.

References

• LJL Seminars; 4 Ways to Remember Material; Lenny Laskowski; 1998