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- ^Tutorial 15 - Remembering Speeches and Presentations\
-
- The most effective way to deliver a speech is to speak it in your own words,
- |thought for thought\. Any speech is basically a |sequence of thoughts\. If
- the thoughts are random, out of sequence, they won't make a lot of sense.
-
- You should by now be completely familiar with using the ^Link System\ to
- memorise things in sequence. The Link System, with the addition of the ^Key
- Word\ idea, will enable you to remember any speech you want to deliver,
- |thought for thought\.
-
- This is how you do it. Firstly, write (or type) out your speech, including
- all the ideas you want to get across, and everything you want to say about
- those ideas. When you are happy with the speech, select a Key Word or
- Phrase for each of the thoughts in the sppech which will remind you of the
- |entire thought\.
-
- This is not as difficult as it may appear. Almost any thought, whether you
- intend to express it in six words or sixty words, can be recalled by just
- ^one\ Key Word or Phrase. Take as an example the following excerpt from a
- speech to a sales conference.#
- 'We have high expectations of our new products, Eclipse, New Woman, and
- Femme Fatale. These products should help us stir a lot of new business. It
- has been over a year since we introduced any new product lines at all, and
- we must push these products as hard as we can...'
-
- This paragraph can be summed up by the Key Phrase ^new products\. Assuming
- that you are familiar with the facts about which you are talking - for
- example that your company has launched no new products for over a year -
- then thinking of ^new products\ sums up the entire thought of the above
- paragraph.
-
- Having extracted the Key Thoughts from your speech, if you then link them
- together, in sequence, you will have memorised your speech, ^thought for
- thought\.
-
- Of course, you could simply jot down your Key Words on a piece of paper and
- occasionally glance down at your notes to remind yourself of your next Key
- Thought. However, you may not instantly see the next point if your list is
- fairly long, and you can easily miss points out if your eye runs over them.
- It can ruin a point finished on a high note to link to the next point with
- an 'Er...um....ah...' as you glance surreptitiously at your notes.#
-
- Once you are confident with the idea oflinking Key Words to help you
- remember a speech, you can use the method with more aplomb than even the
- scantiest notes. You will find that you can move smoothly from one point to
- another, recalling the next Key Word as you are reaching the end of the one
- before it.
-
- Let's consider an example. Suppose you have to deliver a brief speech to a
- meeting of company employees, outlining reasons for changes in policy by the
- company. Assume that you have written out your speech and selected the
- following ten Key Thoughts which you need to remember :
- ^
- (1) New Technology (6) Productivity
- (2) Progress (7) Costs
- (3) Manpower (8) Profit Margins
- (4) Redistribution (9) Overseas
- (5) Talent (10) Morale\
-
- Assume also that you know what you want to say about each of these thoughts.
- If you new nothing about the subject, why would you be speaking about it ?
- Your problem is simply to remember the Key Thought in the correct sequence,
- without missing any.#
-
- The first Key Thought is ^New Technology\. Think of a Substitute Word or
- Phrase to remind you of New Technology. For ^technology\ you could picture
- your computer (you must have a computer or you wouldn't be running Memory
- Master !). For ^new\ you could perhaps visualise your computer being brand,
- spanking new - so new that it shines and gleams with newness.
-
- The second Key Thought is ^Progess\, so begin your link by associating that
- thought to New Technology. You might picture your new, gleaming computer
- sprouting legs and marching (progressing) down the road. Or, to make the
- image more vivid, you could picture millions of new computers progressing
- down the road. See that zany image, or a ludicrous association you thought
- of yourself, in your mind's eye, right now.
-
- The next Key Thought is ^Manpower\, so continue your Link by associating it
- to Progress. For ^Manpower\ you might visualise an army of identical little
- matchstick men. To associate it to Progress, you might picture that army of
- little men progressing down a road, or perhaps progressing slowly up a very
- steep hill. Make that association now.#
-
- ^Redistribution\ is the next Key Thought. To help you picture this thought,
- you could visualise your army of matchstick men being moved around by a
- giant hand, like a chess game. See that crazy picture now.
-
- To help you picture the fifth Key Thought, ^Talent\, you could picture some
- entrants in a talent contest - jugglers, singers, clowns, comedians - anyone
- you might see on a talent contest. Now associate ^Talent\ to redistribution.
- Picture those talent contest entrants being ^redistributed\ around a stage
- by a huge hand or claw, in a zany, comic fashion. See that picture.
-
- Complete the Link yourself, by adding the remaining five Key Thoughts -
- ^Productivity, Costs, Profit Margins, Overseas,\ and ^Morale\ to the five
- thoughts you have linked so far. Here are some suggestions for Substitute
- Words and Phrase to help you make the associations.
-
- ^Productivity\ - someone busily producing huge quantities of something
- ^Costs\ - huge piles of coins or notes
- ^Profit Margins\ - ma (a little old lady) selling gin and making a profit
- ^Overseas\ - a ship sailing on the ocean, or just an expanse of water
- ^Morale\ - more ale (lots of beer)#
-
- Forming a Link accomplishes two things. It forces you to concentrate, and be
- Initially Aware of, the thoughts of the speech, and it will give you the
- ^sequence of thoughts\. When you |know\ that you definitely have that
- sequence fixed in your mind, it gives you a confidence you wouldn't have if
- you were relying on notes.
-
- If you haven't yet seriously tried to form a mental Link between the ten Key
- Thoughts listed on the previous pages, go back and do it right now. When
- you are ready, press Page Down to test yourself on how well you have
- memorised those ten Key Thoughts.~
-