How to easily create a speech from scratch

Have you ever had to prepare a speech, but had no idea what to say?

When preparing a speech, do you have trouble putting your ideas together?

Do you ever have writer's block?

When I first began crafting speeches, I often had these problems. Over time, I learned a few techniques that have helped me to create and structure new speeches more rapidly and more easily.

Let me share one of my techniques with you, which I got from professional speaker Peri Shawn.

You first need a central theme and message. For example, "How to easily create a speech from scratch".
Once you have your theme and message, make a list of everything you know on that topic. Write each idea on a separate small sticky note or piece of paper. For example, "Have a central theme", "Write ideas on Post-Its", "List of Steps", "Mind Mapping", "Software", "Speech writing issues", "Call to Action". These are all ideas that I want to put in this article. The more ideas you can generate, the easier it will be to write the speech.
When you have written your ideas, group them together in three to five main categories. These categories will be the structure of your speech. My categories are "Introduction", "Steps", "Conclusion".
Eliminate ideas that require too much time to cover, or that are not directly related to your message. For example, I decided not to include "Speech elements".
Now, you have a structure for your speech. All you need to do is to expand on all of the ideas you've written on your sticky notes, and you will have a complete speech.

You can use this approach for just about anything: writing speeches or articles, brainstorming, making a TODO list, etc. It is called mind mapping.

You don't have to use sticky notes either; you can use a blank sheet of paper or a mind mapping tool such as Freemind, MindMapper, or Mind Manager. I have personally used Freemind, and MindMapper (if you are interested in purchasing a copy of MindMapper, let me know).

Since I started using this approach, it has considerably reduced the time it takes me to write a new article, write a new speech, or brainstorm ideas.

Try it out before your next presentation to see how fast and easy it is to create and structure a new speech.