Gone Blank!

Your palms are sweaty, your knees are weak and there is a frog stuck in your throat. The emcee announces your name and as you step up on the stage, you wondered why you agreed to give a speech in the first place.

You take a deep breath, open your mouth and .......you forgot what you wanted to say.

Going blank while giving a speech is a nightmare for anyone who has ever dared to speak in front of an audience. It is one of the worst fears that have stopped many people from speaking in public.

However, there are a few strategies that you can easily adopt to ensure that you will always remember your speech. Applying these strategies will allow you to minimise the risk of forgetting what you wanted to say, thereby making you a more confident and convincing speaker.

Today, I am going to share one important strategy and that is:

Don’t memorise!

I have seen many speakers do this. They print out their 800 words speech and try to memorise it word by word. When they are on stage, there is a high chance that the nervousness will cause them to forget some of those words. The moment that happens, they will start to panic and they end up forgetting the whole script.

Therefore, don’t memorise your speech word by word!

The trick is to internalise.

Ask yourself, what is the main message that you want to share with your audience?

Once you are sure of your main message, remember the key points about it that you want to share with your audience. Try to keep those key points under 3 main points. Some speakers have 10 points in a 7 minutes speech. Trust me; the audience would not be able to grasp so many points if your speech only lasts for 7 minutes.

If you really need to have more than 3 main points, then use acronyms to link them. It makes it easier for you and your audience to remember them.

After you have done that, rehearse how you are going to elaborate on your 3 main points. You will find that after a few rehearsals, your speech will start to form itself and your delivery will get smoother. Let’s face it, it is a lot easier to remember 3 main points than trying to memorise 800 words.

By knowing your main message with clarity and identifying the 3 main points that supports your main message, you will find it easier to grasp the overall essence of your speech.

Therefore, in the worst case scenario, if you do go blank on stage, ask yourself, what is your main message? What are your 3 main points? Elaborate on it and you shall do fine on stage.

Speak To Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

Go Fish!!!

I am a person who hates being reminded of the same thing over and over again. In every public speaking course that I have attended, the speaker will always start by saying, “The first and foremost thing in writing a speech is Audience Analysis.....”

The moment I hear that, my mind would go, “Oh God, here we go again....”

However, after attending a 3 day convention over the last weekend, I am afraid that today, I will be the one nagging on the importance of Audience Analysis.

The convention was attended by well over 300 delegates and as with tradition, during the closing ceremony; a speaker came up on stage to invite everyone to attend the next convention which will be held in a very beautiful island in Asia. Everyone in the audience was very excited and eager to find out more information about the next convention.

But instead of providing information about the next convention and how beautiful that island is, the speaker spent too long talking about how he was initially born in that island and how he spent many years of his life travelling around the world and then finally coming back to settle down in that particular island.

As he continuing talking about his own life, most of the people in the audience began to shut off their minds while others began to pay more attention to their i-phones. His saving grace was that when he actually started to present about the island, his powerpoint slides are indeed attractive and generated a lot of interest.

To me, the whole episode proved one point. No matter how many times we were nagged on the importance of Audience Analysis, it is still not a common practise.

So, to avoid the risk of sounding like an old nagger (is there such a word?), let me share with you this wonderful phrase by DTM Papa Gerald Green, professional speaker and the first and only Accredited Speaker outside USA.

He said, “Public Speaking is like fishing. You need to use the right bait to hook the right fish.”

Therefore, the next time you are writing your speech, find out who your audience are and what they are interested to know. Tailor your message along that line so that your audience are hooked not to their i-phones but to your every word.

Happy Fishing!


Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

What is Public Speaking?

When you mention the word Public Speaking, different things will pop up in the minds of different people. To some, public speaking is a process where a person speak in front of a group of people. While to others, it means a fear that is scarier than death itself.

For me, public speaking is a skill, a talent, a process, a tool and a passion.

It is a skill because it can be learnt.

It is a talent because like any skill in this world, some people are more talented than others in certain fields. For example, some people may be more talented in sports while some may be more talented when in comes to crunching numbers. BUT at the end of the day, with or without talent, public speaking is a skill that can be mastered.

It is a process because there is a step by step technique which anyone can learn to make themselves become better speakers.

It is a tool because you can use public speaking to Inform, Persuade or Entertain. History has shown us that public speaking has been used (many times) as a tool to change the world.

It is a passion, because for me, I live and breathe public speaking.

Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong