Feedback??

• Demonstrate your interest
• Speak for yourself (i.e., what I saw, what I heard, what I felt)
• Evaluate the speech, not the person; offer at least one actionable suggestion for improvement.
• Sharing positive reinforcement when improvements occur—honestly and sincerely. (Toastmasters 2025)

7⨦2 is the limit

Chunking

Memory palace

Sherlock Holmes

3 is a magical number – for speeches

Mnemonics

In addition to the memory palace, you might:

• associate the components of the speech
  • with key words or figures (e.g., animals) and use them to tell a story;
  • with a letter and use them to create abbreviations/words
• illustrate your speech on paper with colors and figures
• rehearse, record, review, and revise; 4–8 times!

Memory and mindmap

Preparation vs speaking outline

When preparing you might write prose (e.g., essay) or a detailed outline. This is a first step.

You need to then prepare a speaking outline that:

• distills speech into bullets
• recognizes that “three is the magic number”
• documents the framing and signposts you provide to the audience
• documents the mnemonics you use for yourself

Structure

speech purpose

what the speech is to accomplish

thesis statement

what you actually say to the audience about your topic and purpose

main points

the 3–5 main points that support your thesis

Common arrangements

spatial

Freud’s model of psyche as an iceberg

temporal

historical / narrative

topical

enumeration (how to transition)

problem-solution

child-hood obesity

cause and effect

child-hood obesity

What is a specific topic that would be apt for each type??

“Connectives”

internal summaries

“So far I have shown…”

internal previews

“In this next part…”

transitions

“Given what I said about X, let’s compare to Y …”

signposts

“First, I believe … Second, ….”

bridges (psychological movement via rhetorical question)

“I have mentioned … let me ask: Is that what we want?”

Outline template

The dorodango outline

The dorodango recording

7 Ways To Recover From A Memory Lapse

1. Planned Spontaneity
2. Repeat what you just said in a different way
3. Keep your speaker notes simple
4. Go to your notes if you need to
5. Fake it till you make it (the audience doesn’t know)
6. Use Q&A to your advantage
7. Rehearse PROPERLY (many times, over time)

Wrap up

• Share a draft topic and thesis.
• Any questions?

• What is a good number of topics and subtopics to have in a short speech?
  • ~3–5
• What are two menmonic techniques for remembering your talk?
  • story, memory palace, mind map, abbreviation
• What to do if you forget?

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