Any strategies on memorizing for a 6 minute speech?

[Ricemarine]

Right now I'm trying to memorize for a 6 minute speech I have to give friday about "helicopter parents (hovering parents)." The problem is that the instructor required that we can only have up to 4 note cards, with only 3 words each. I've never tried to just use keywords to remember what I was going to say, so I'm going to have to get accustomed to it. This also means that my citations from other sources will also have to be memorized.

For those that have given speeches, what are some tips? Is there any strategies to memorize what I have to remember?

Right now I'm trying to outline and then taking a keyword and sticking it on notecards.

 

[intogamer]

Taze yourself every time you think you gonna get it wong

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Do you have long hair? If so... earbuds ftw!

 

[irishScott]

You have to know what you're talking about to the point where it's near second nature. Hence the reason some instructors insist on this method (it makes sure you actually know what you're saying). Only way that worked for me was repetition. Decide on your keywords, talk through it, then talk through it again and again until you can do it in your sleep. (If you're in a US time zone, you might have to do it in your sleep anyway if the presentation's tomorrow )

For my sophomore (in HS) Science Fair project my spiel started out as a pre-planned 20 some-odd minute, presentation, but when the actual fair came around the judges wanted to know various specifics, and only a few wanted the spiel. So I ended up improvising my way again and again until I could give a lecture on any part the project with literally no notes aside from the occasional glance at my poster to make sure I'd covered everything.

For the record, I won regionals and went on to Internationals <------Shameless show off


Also, don't stay up too late. Sleep is the key to memory retention. If you don't get enough sleep, you will fail regardless of how well you memorized the material. That's been my experience anyway.

 

[biggestmuff]

Ever heard of an outline?

 

[Kadarin]

My "trick" for this kind of thing is not to memorize a speech, but rather to become familiar enough with the subject matter to be able to sufficiently wing it on the fly.

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
My "trick" for this kind of thing is not to memorize a speech, but rather to become familiar enough with the subject matter to be able to sufficiently wing it on the fly.

bingo

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Ever heard of an outline?

Originally posted by: Kadarin
My "trick" for this kind of thing is not to memorize a speech, but rather to become familiar enough with the subject matter to be able to sufficiently wing it on the fly.

This sums it up.

Whenever I had to give a speech I'd start with what all I was going to talk about and touch on each section of my speech before I went into detail.

I'd put basically the first sentence of each section on my note card, and then I'd have memorized enough information about all the areas of my topic that I could just go with it and when I felt like I'd given enough attention to each topic, go to the next.

Then I had my conclusion.

Maybe put a word describing the section you are about to talk about on there.

If you can split it into 4 parts you could put 3 words on each section.

3 words to help you get through the introduction, 6 for the body and 3 for the conclusion.

 

[Ricemarine]

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Ever heard of an outline?

Originally posted by: Kadarin
My "trick" for this kind of thing is not to memorize a speech, but rather to become familiar enough with the subject matter to be able to sufficiently wing it on the fly.

This sums it up.

Whenever I had to give a speech I'd start with what all I was going to talk about and touch on each section of my speech before I went into detail.

I'd put basically the first sentence of each section on my note card, and then I'd have memorized enough information about all the areas of my topic that I could just go with it and when I felt like I'd given enough attention to each topic, go to the next.

Then I had my conclusion.

Maybe put a word describing the section you are about to talk about on there.

If you can split it into 4 parts you could put 3 words on each section.

3 words to help you get through the introduction, 6 for the body and 3 for the conclusion.

Hmm... Is there any way to avoid using "fillers" as transitions? Because if you're winging it on the fly, you're thinking of what the sentence is going to be about rather than how you are going to start off the sentence. That's one of my small problems if memorizing and winging it on the fly.

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: Ricemarine

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Ever heard of an outline?

Originally posted by: Kadarin
My "trick" for this kind of thing is not to memorize a speech, but rather to become familiar enough with the subject matter to be able to sufficiently wing it on the fly.

This sums it up.

Whenever I had to give a speech I'd start with what all I was going to talk about and touch on each section of my speech before I went into detail.

I'd put basically the first sentence of each section on my note card, and then I'd have memorized enough information about all the areas of my topic that I could just go with it and when I felt like I'd given enough attention to each topic, go to the next.

Then I had my conclusion.

Maybe put a word describing the section you are about to talk about on there.

If you can split it into 4 parts you could put 3 words on each section.

3 words to help you get through the introduction, 6 for the body and 3 for the conclusion.

Hmm... Is there any way to avoid using "fillers" as transitions? Because if you're winging it on the fly, you're thinking of what the sentence is going to be about rather than how you are going to start off the sentence. That's one of my small problems if memorizing and winging it on the fly.

If you know your topic well enough, the speech SHOULD flow with natural transitions.

 

[UncleWai]

Memorizing a speech is teh suck, it will just come off as rigid and boring. Try to present it so you are actually talking to the audience and explain it.
You should only write the topic then you are covering on the note cards so you don't miss any points. Don't even bother with coming out with a formal outline.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: FallenHero

Originally posted by: Ricemarine

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
Ever heard of an outline?

Originally posted by: Kadarin
My "trick" for this kind of thing is not to memorize a speech, but rather to become familiar enough with the subject matter to be able to sufficiently wing it on the fly.

This sums it up.

Whenever I had to give a speech I'd start with what all I was going to talk about and touch on each section of my speech before I went into detail.

I'd put basically the first sentence of each section on my note card, and then I'd have memorized enough information about all the areas of my topic that I could just go with it and when I felt like I'd given enough attention to each topic, go to the next.

Then I had my conclusion.

Maybe put a word describing the section you are about to talk about on there.

If you can split it into 4 parts you could put 3 words on each section.

3 words to help you get through the introduction, 6 for the body and 3 for the conclusion.

Hmm... Is there any way to avoid using "fillers" as transitions? Because if you're winging it on the fly, you're thinking of what the sentence is going to be about rather than how you are going to start off the sentence. That's one of my small problems if memorizing and winging it on the fly.

If you know your topic well enough, the speech SHOULD flow with natural transitions.

...and you don't worry about things like how you're going to start a sentence.