Stop Writing Speeches: Why Speaking Is a Performance, Not a Document - Episode 2

Ultimize. Here's one of the biggest mistakes people make when preparing a speech or presentation. They think of the speech as this big document, something that exists on paper, something that exists on a screen, something that must be written perfectly before it's delivered. And when people approach speaking that way, something almost always happens. They become terrified. They Because if the speech exists mainly as a document, then the speaker begins obsessing over the words. Is the wording perfect? Is the grammar right? Is this sentence clever enough? Is that paragraph strong enough? Before long, the entire process becomes stressful. The speaker stares at a screen trying to create the perfect script. But the problem is simple: a speech is not a document. A speech is you talking. It's a performance of sorts. Think about a musician preparing for a concert. Do they write out the lyrics and then simply read them for the first time on stage? Of course not. They rehearse. Think about an actor preparing for a play. Do they memorize the script once and then hope everything works out? No, they rehearse over and over again. The difference is You don't have to memorize. That puts a lot of pressure on you. You just have to be familiar with the key concepts. Many speakers make themselves nervous because they spend hours writing slides. They rewrite paragraphs, they polish bullet points, but they rarely practice the actual speaking, the talking part. So when the moment comes to present, everything feels unfamiliar. Their voice kind of feels shaking. Their pacing feels strange, their gestures feel awkward, and suddenly the fear kicks in. But imagine a completely different approach. Instead of writing the perfect speech first, you start by speaking immediately. You outline a few ideas, then you talk. You record yourself, you watch the recording, then you improve it. You speak again, you record again. You watch again. Suddenly the speech begins to feel natural, not because the words are perfect, but because the performance is improving. And the good news is you're not performing like some big actor on Broadway. You're just talking like you, because it's you talking. This is a similar process to what musicians, actors, and comedians use, but it's so much easier. You're not memorizing a script. And it works extremely well for business presentations too. Let me give you a simple example. Imagine you need to give a presentation at work next week. Most people would start by opening a slide deck and writing a lot of text. They might spend hours adjusting fonts, bullet points, and wording, but they still have no idea how the presentation will actually sound when spoken. Now imagine a different process. Instead of writing everything, you create a simple outline, maybe 3 points you want to make. Then you take out your phone. You record yourself explaining those points for a couple of minutes. You watch the video. Maybe the first version feels rough. That's normal. But you immediately notice things. Maybe one explanation was unclear. Maybe you repeated a phrase too many times. Maybe you rush through an important point. Now try it again. Second recording, already a little better most of the time. You tighten up a sentence, you give another example, you slow down slightly. Third recording, even a little better. Now the speech begins to feel comfortable because you've already said it several times. By the time the real presentation arrives, it's no longer new and alien to you. You've already delivered it many times. This is one of the biggest secrets of confidence speakers. They don't wait until the audience arrives to perform the speech for the first time. They've already performed it multiple times on video, which means the stage is no longer a place of uncertainty. It's just another repetition. Now, here's something interesting that happens when you practice on video. You begin to notice that the spoken version of your ideas is often different from the written version. Written language tends to be longer. The sentences are longer, more formal, more complicated. You don't want that. Spoken language is usually simpler, shorter sentences, more conversational, more stories, more examples. And when you watch yourself speak, you naturally start moving toward that more natural style. That's a good thing. Your speech becomes easier for the audience to understand, which means the audience becomes more engaged, which means you become more confident. Confidence grows from evidence. Evidence that your message works. Evidence that your delivery works. Evidence that your audience responds. Now, you might be thinking something important. What if I watch myself on video and I don't like what I see? That's actually one of the best things that can happen because now you know exactly what you can fix. Maybe you're speaking too quickly. That's easy to change. Maybe you say "um" a lot. That's easy to improve with practice. Maybe your explanation needs to be clearer. That's easy to adjust. The important thing is that video removes the mystery. You're no longer guessing about how you come across. You can see it. And once you can see it, improvement becomes very fast. Now let me emphasize something important. The first few recordings do not need to be perfect. You're not showing it to anyone else. It's just for you. They're simply part of the rehearsal process. Actors don't expect their first rehearsal to be flawless. Musicians don't expect their first practice session to sound like a concert. Practice can be messy. That's normal, but each repetition brings improvement, and each improvement reduces fear. Before we finish this episode, I want to reinforce the simple habit we introduced earlier. Whenever you prepare for a speech, a presentation, a talk, or an important meeting, do this: outline your main points, record yourself speaking for a few minutes, watch the video, improve something, and focus on things you can improve. Everyone can look at a video and see something they don't like. I can look at my face and head and think, wow, where'd my hair go? Are my eyes too beady? Do people not like my teeth? I can't fix those things, but I realize nobody else really cares about that. As long as I'm saying something interesting and useful to other people, They'll love me. As long as they don't look scared or nervous, they'll feel comfortable with me and they will focus on my message. So think about that when you're watching yourself on video. Then do it again. Repeat the process. This simple cycle—speak, record, watch, improve—will do more to eliminate speaking fear than almost any psychological technique because it replaces uncertainty with evidence. In the next episode, we're going to look at something that causes enormous anxiety for many speakers. It's the fear of boring the audience. And guess what? It's a legitimate fear because most speakers are boring. I'm going to show you why that fear is actually helpful and how to use it to dramatically improve your presentations. You know, there's one thing I always find interesting. People will listen to a podcast like this, get ideas, maybe even feel a little motivated, and then just move on with their day. Nothing actually changes. And I get it. Information alone doesn't do it. Repetition does. That's actually why we built Ultimize. So if you're getting any value from this, just go to ultimize.com. That's spelled U-L-T-A-M-I-Z-E.com. There's a free course waiting for you there. You can start with communication skills, but the whole idea is simple. Don't just hear something once, actually build it into your life. Again, it's free. Go to ultimize.com.