Memorize speeches and presentations

1. How to memorize speeches and presentations Use proven visual memory techniques to memorize the key points of your speeches. Alan Walsh

2. Introduction • With these steps you can easily learn to memorize the key points of your speeches in just a few minutes. • The aim here is to memorize key points, so you can use them as cues for speaking, rather than memorizing the speech wordfor word, which will usually sound over-rehearsed with poor delivery.

3. Memory techniques • We are going to use some powerful visual memory techniques. • These may seem bizarre at first, but give them a chance, they are incredibly effective!

4. 3 Steps • Organise your speech into key points • Commit to memory • Review and rehearse

5. Organize • Break your speech down into key points. • People usually write these on cue cards, but many experienced speakers still depend on these. The following techniques will enable you to memorise them. • Give yourself at least 1 - 1.5 minutes for each major point. If you have facts or figures to remember then add these as sub-points.

6. Memorize • Your mind works by association, paint mental pictures of what you are trying to remember, and it will be quickly committed to memory.

7. Link/Chain Method • This is where you turn your words into mental pictures and then use your imagination to chain them together • E.g. You are going to deliver a short speech about your hobbies, and you want to remember the following points: Soccer, Swimming, Travelling • You could link these together in your head... e.g. start off by imagining a soccer player kicking a ball into a swimming pool, a man overburdened by a giant travelling backpack while swimming catches the ball in the pool!

8. Turn anything into pictures • The previous picture seems very silly, but it's memorable. You can even remember abstract things using this method: • For example: The Number 7 - Use rhyming. Seven = Heaven. Imagine something related to your mental image of heaven! • or Use shapes. Look at the shape of the number, it could look like a cliff face, use that in your mental picture.

9. Turn anything into pictures (continued) • If you're trying to remember a word that you cannot picture, then use substitution, or a paint a picture that you will quickly be able to link to: • Microsoft - Imagine Bill Gates, or a Windows computer, or a SOFT ball in a MICROwave oven, etc. • Apple - Imagine Steve Jobs, or the fruit, or an iPod/iPad, etc. • Accountant - Imagine a cartoon style impression of a person overburdened processing receipts, or a person writing numbers into a giant floating spreadsheet. • The number 8 - Picture a snowman

10. Use your imagination • Remember, pick an image that is personal to you. Something which will help YOU remember a point may not work for anyone else but you! Try to use: • Your own experiences • Stereotypes • Inside jokes • People or celebrities • ...or anything that will help you remember!

11. Take memorization to the next level • Use the simple, but extremely effective Journey or ‘Loci’ technique to remember a virtually unlimited amount of information. • It is the method that almost every memory champion uses to demonstrate amazing feats of memory. • Get your free course on how to use this for your public speaking on www.publicspeakingmemory.com, including explanations, walk-throughs, and exercises.

12. Review and Rehearse • Key Points: Begin and visualise each point as you are rehearsing your speech, use this as your cue to begin speaking. • Time your speech: You can use a phone for this. • Record it and listen over it: Try to rehearse it enough to minimise hesitations.

13. Free Course - Get Instant Access at www.publicspeakingmemory.com