I recently collaborated with three former Toastmasters World Champions on a public speaking CD, titled Panic to Power. The CD, plus a companion product, will be available for purchase around mid-September. Stay tuned!
Do you have a fear of forgetting your speech? Have you ever gone completely blank on stage?
When I was studying to be an actor, I was discouraged by my teachers from improvising my lines, which is often considered an act of disrespect to the playwright. Thus, I was asked to memorize every word as it is written. I remember being terrified of the prospect of forgetting my lines.
Then it happened. I remember this one time when I was starring in a play at a local theatre. I was speaking one of the long chants written for my character. All of a sudden, my mind went completely blank. It was a classic example of the Actor’s Nightmare. Frantically, I racked my brain, trying to grasp the tail end of any key word that would trigger my recall of my character’s monologue. Miraculously, I somehow was able muddle through the rest of my monologue. Despite my fumble during that performance, I survived and managed to do well during the rest of the play’s run.
On my upcoming Panic to Power CD, I covered the reasons why I think memorizing your speech is better than winging it. Today I will share some memorizing techniques with you:
1) Read the whole speech to get the sense of its structure. Create an outline of the script to serve as your memorization blueprint so that you know where and what the main ideas and examples are.
2) Go some place quiet where you will not be distracted. Memorization takes attention and focus.
3) Memorize your speech by paragraph or section. Then memorize the transition between paragraphs. For instance, memorize the last sentence of the previous paragraph and the first sentence of the next paragraph. Know the introduction and the conclusion by heart.
4) Tape your speech and listen to it in your car and at home. You can also try taping the speech and leave spaces in between sentences so that you would have time to say the lines yourself. If you really want to challenge yourself, you can tape one sentence, leave time for the next couple of sentences on your tape, and then record the sentence after that.
While I was doing theatre, I would record my scene partner’s lines and leave time for me to say my lines.
5) You can also attempt to write your speech from memory to check where you need to reinforce your recall.
6) Say the speech as fast as possible. If you hesitate in any place, you need to firm up recall at that place.
7) Rehearse the speech with gestures, vocal variety, and props.