Keep your remarks brief

Think through what you'll say to keep people listening

Despite this being the stuff of nightmares, it’s quite rare that anyone would need to give a speech in public with no notice. If you’re going to need or want to talk, you can usually see it coming from a mile off.

Yet, oddly, many people who are making remarks seem not to have thought through this possibility. I think we’ve all had the experience of seeing someone stand up to thank people for coming to a fundraiser/birthday party/community dinner without being clear on what they intend to say. They want to make a point, but they’re not sure they made it, so they repeat it. Or they meander into other things, thanking folks more than once, and worrying about forgetting people, and then trying to make a joke about being nervous and…

An audience that started out warm winds up looking at their phones as the babbling goes on.

Know where you’re going

A better approach is to be thoughtful, so you can be brief. If you know you will need to address a group, or there’s a reasonable chance this could happen, think about your point. What do you want the audience to remember? What’s a good story, or some evidence, that could illustrate this point? Practice your talk. Time yourself. Try it again and see if you can take out anything that isn’t helping. Pretend you had to pay a dollar a word. Would all those words be necessary?

It’s OK to write down notes if you don’t think you’ll remember what you want to say. Reading from notes is better than stumbling around and forgetting things, then going back, and distracting people from your point. If you have a few points you’re going to make, it might help to say that up front so people know what to expect and know that you will be brief — so it’s worth listening to everything you say. I want to say three things I love about the groom. Then you tell a funny story to illustrate each point. Or, I’m opposed to this new parking lot for 3 reasons, and want to share some evidence on each of these in the three minutes I plan to talk.

Get to the point

When the remarks are clear, coherent, and to the point, then people get the point. They can focus on the point instead of the scene the speaker is making. For the most part, when we’re speaking to folks, the point is not us and our demeanor. It’s the point we’re trying to convey.

Now I do understand that in some situations people don’t anticipate they’ll be speaking. I was pondering this when the horse named Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby a few years ago. Rich Strike entered the race with 80-1 odds. The horse’s trainer and owner were probably not expecting to need to talk to scores of international media folks afterwards about their victory.

That said, it can be fun to daydream even in the face of 80-1 odds. You may never need to give a 90-second victory speech after winning something on a televised award show but…you might! Why not think about what that speech would be? If you’d like to give one piece of advice or one nugget that’s been helpful to your success, why not think about that? How could you tell that story succinctly? If you ever are asked to speak unexpectedly, that could make for a good little performance and — since it would have a clear beginning, middle, and end — people would likely be impressed with your brilliance.

When you think about what you want to say, you can make your point without the extraneous stuff that makes people stop listening. When you make your point clearly, people will get your point. So keep your remarks brief. You’ll convey what matters while respecting everyone’s time.