Welcome to the New Year!
Scripting a speech is hard work.My compliments all the writers I know who craft content for {numerous} presentations and speeches.
I’m currently working on a 5-7 minute Toastmasters’ speech to be delivered at our next meeting. During early practice sessions, I was so hung up on trying to tell EVERYTHING I knew about my subject. It wasn’t working and lacked enthusiasm.
Cut, Cut Some More
I made the decision to cut major portions of my speech, eliminating the statistics my audience could find on Wikipedia. Focusing my attention on telling a story... the backstories, anecdotes and complementary stories that add deeper meaning.
Soaring Heights and Stopwatches
My subject is the Willis Tower (originally Sears Tower) -- an imposing topic for anyone. But, as a docent, I knew I could weave the essential information into interesting stories to keep my audience engaged. I didn’t want to waste precious minutes reciting extensive statistics.
Quality Trumps Quantity
I chose to put together a brief fact sheet as a handout. (BTW, we meet in Willis Tower, so my overall presentation requires a special touch.) Once I decided to curate some of the information, the stories came to together, naturally. A stronger and hopefully more interesting speech with less “text.”
“I’m redesigning my website and it will have “lots of copy.” I’ve heard this repeatedly the past few months. Using massive amounts of text/copy to improve search engine optimization is a misconception. It’s like pressing the elevator button repeatedly, hoping the doors will close before your boss steps forward.
Focus on the quality of your content and how it relates to the overall keyword strategy of/for your website or article.
It’s time to escort the myth about using more text (quantity) directly out the door.
