Preparing for a big speech can be a nerve-wracking experience. Whether it’s the commencement speech at your graduation ceremony, a career-making presentation, or the best man speech at a wedding, preparation is the key to getting through your speech without a hiccup.
But how do you even begin to memorize something as lengthy and detailed as an entire speech? Luckily, there are some tried and true ways to commit your speech to memory before the big day. Here’s why memorizing your speech can make it even better and eight ways to make the memorization process a total breeze.
Why is it important to memorize speeches?
Public speaking is challenging for many people, but it’s much easier when you give yourself the opportunity to plan and prepare. Memorizing your speech allows you to move from point to point without even thinking about it. This not only increases your credibility as a speaker, but it also makes it easier to connect with your audience, since you’ll be at ease instead of struggling to figure out what to say next.
How you go about memorizing your speech is important, too. You don’t want to appear robotic or get tripped up if you’ve memorized a speech perfectly from beginning to end and then happen to forget a word and lose your place. The best way to memorize a speech is to know it front to back, inside and out, and to be able to recall each piece of it, even if it were broken up and jumbled like a jigsaw puzzle.
Sound like a big task? Don’t worry. We’ve got your back. Here’s how to memorize your speech like a pro.
How to memorize a speech
1. Get organized.
Think of your speech as a script. Decide exactly what points you’d like to make and what you’d like to say ahead of time. Ideally, your speech should have distinct sections that divide the information you’re trying to convey as well as an attention-grabbing introduction and conclusion. Make use of transition words, too, to keep your audience engaged. The more organized your speech is, the easier it will be to memorize and to create cues for yourself in case you get tripped up.
2. Write it down.
Reciting your speech out loud isn’t the only way to memorize it. You can also write it down. The practice of writing helps to encode things in the brain more deeply. Pick one section of your speech and write it word-for-word a few times during the week. The next week, pick a different section and keep the practice going. In no time, you’ll find yourself remembering lines and transitions with more ease than ever.
3. Give yourself enough time.
Memorization doesn’t happen overnight, so don’t wait until the night before or even the week before a big speech to begin the work of memorizing. For longer speeches, give yourself at least four to six weeks to get it down. For shorter speeches, two to three may suffice. Plan which parts of your speech or presentation you’ll work on each week, with the final week spent running through the entire thing from start to finish. Not only will you get the speech down completely, but you’ll also prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed.
4. Use memory tricks.
Don’t have superhuman memory? That’s OK; most of us don’t. That’s where memory tricks come in. If you need to remember a difficult acronym, specific terms, or just where to transition from one part of your speech to another, come up with a memory device to help remind you in the moment. Here are some ideas to try:
- Make flash cards for each section of your speech.
- Use mnemonics for important terms or to recall the order of information.
- Create a song or rhyme you can refer to in your head if you get stuck.
- If it makes sense with your speech, include images or visuals to trigger your memory.
5. Practice your movements, too.
Coordinating specific movements to make during different parts of your speech can help encode it more deeply in your memory. Plus, it helps you avoid awkwardness during the real-life delivery of your speech. Decide where you’ll stand as well as when and if you’ll move to different areas while you’re talking. If you’ll be behind a podium, figure out which hand gestures make sense and won’t be distracting to your audience. All of this will help you feel more prepared and make the delivery of your speech feel like second nature.
6. Use sleep to your advantage.
Research has shown that sleep helps the human brain process and store information. You can use this as a trick to help you with memorizing your speech. Try reviewing your speech right before you go to bed some nights. The night before the big speech, do one last run-through and then make sure you get a full night’s sleep so that you feel refreshed and that your brain is functioning at its highest capacity.
7. Quiz yourself.
It’s a good idea to test yourself regularly to make sure you’re making progress on memorizing your speech. The easiest way to do this is to memorize each section of your speech separately and then test yourself over that section. As you learn more and more of the speech, you can challenge yourself to recite all of the sections you’ve learned so far. You can even pick random sections to recite out of order to make sure you really have it down. Lastly, ask a friend to read the speech while you recite it so they can catch any missed words or information.
8. Make a plan for mistakes.
Even if you prepare a lot, mistakes and forgetful moments can still happen. Rather than fretting about it, come prepared. Write good notes that you can use to cue yourself with just a glance. Plan to take a sip of water if you need to buy yourself an extra few seconds to remember the next line. Also, brainstorm some phrases you can use to talk yourself through mishaps and keep your audience engaged if you need a second to get back on track. Here are some examples:
- “I’ll refer to my notes here.”
- “Let me take a step back and gather my thoughts.”
- “To summarize what I’ve talked about up to this point, …”
- “Are there any questions about what I’ve covered so far?”
Remember: your audience doesn’t expect perfection. Relax, make eye contact, and trust in the hard work you’ve done to commit your thoughts to memory. You’ve got this!
