Buttery Slick Speaking » Planning http://www.butterytoastmaster.com Rebecca Anstett - Words in a CafĂ© Culture Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:14:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The Pressure of Planning http://www.butterytoastmaster.com/2008/12/the-pressure-of-planning/ http://www.butterytoastmaster.com/2008/12/the-pressure-of-planning/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:37:28 +0000 rebecca http://www.butterytoastmaster.com/?p=20 I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the art of delivering instantaneous speeches. In retrospect, it was occurred to me that perhaps I have a certain amount of discomfort with being constrained by guidelines and having to stick to a “plan”. Granted, one of the first skills I acquired to accompany my instantaneous speeches was the art of instantaneous planning – hence the ability to develop a 5-7 minute speech with a mere 30 minutes (or less) of preparation time. Given the need to deliver on the spot, I will quickly formulate the following in my head:

  1. Quirky opening
  2. Related Topic 1
  3. Related Topic 2
  4. Related Topic 3
  5. Some sort of conclusion

The problem with my strategy is that I often start off with a bang and fizzle out at the end because I haven’t put enough thought into wrapping things out.

Despite the fact that I have somewhat of an aversion to planning, it occurs to me that I would be more successful if I did, somewhat – given the opportunity, of course. In other words, having more than a few minutes notice in delivering a presentation, I will try to lay out the above structure and actually jot down a few snappy lines to wrap things up with. Rather than fizzling out in my concluding paragraphs, perhaps I can at least pop like a balloon!

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