How to Memorise a Speech Fast and Remember Without Notes

Gary Vaynerchuk, the CEO of VaynerMedia gave a 45 minutes long speech at INBOUND 2016 and Scott Harrison, the CEO of Charity: Water gave an hour-long speech at INBOUND 2018. Both Gary and Scott were remarkable speakers whom spoke passionately at the high octane annual event. Gary, a successful entrepreneur, and Scott, a night club promoter made philanthropist clearly had the ability to memorise and deliver long, impactful speeches despite how each of them rose to fame.

The good news is, we do not need to be an accomplished entrepreneur or philanthropist to be able to deliver long speeches without notes. Before unveiling the secrets to memorise a speech fast, let’s explore the rationale why great speakers avoid using notes during their speeches.

Why Speak Without Notes?

Public speaking is probably the most least mentioned fear in today’s media and publications. The fact lies in a study conducted by The National Institute of Mental Health showing that 73% of the population fear Public Speaking more than they fear death. In spite of that, great speakers around the world continuously deliver impactful speeches even without the use of notes. Why is that so? Simply because, speakers who deliver speeches without notes appear more Authentic, Confident and Enthusiastic. (ACE)

Authentic

When speakers deliver their speeches without notes, they are perceived as being truly invested in the topic and are speaking from their heart. This makes their message more memorable compared to speaking with notes.

Confident

Speaking without notes also shows that a speaker is well-prepared and confident. This makes their speech come across more compelling and memorable to the audience.

Enthusiastic

Speakers who deliver speeches without notes exhibits their Enthusiasm towards the topic. It demonstrates to the audience that the speakers have gone the extra mile to remember their content and practiced their delivery. Being well prepared empowers the speakers to deliver a smooth, impactful speech without the aid of notes.

After mentioning several benefits of speaking without notes, next, we will discuss how you can memorise a speech fast while ensuring efficient use of time in order to fulfill your deadline.

How To Memorise A Speech Fast?

Delivering a speech requires a lot of preparation – from deciding on a topic to practicing the final speech. However, the deadline given to prepare a speech is usually very tight. Hence, the following is a method (DACE) which will help you to memorise your speech fast!

1.     Don’t Write A Script

To memorise a speech fast, the secret lies with not writing a full script. Why is this so? Writing and constant refining of your script takes up a lot of time. In addition, memorising it word for word takes up more time but in turn makes you sound rigid on stage. Listing down main ideas accompanied with one to two sentences would suffice. 

2.     Associate 1 Idea with 1 Image

After listing down the main ideas and sentences, associate an image with each of them. Research has proved that we tend to remember pictures better than words. Hence the use of a relevant image will help us better remember the main ideas of the speech.

3.     Connect Images through a Scenario

Next, create a scenario that connects the images in chronological order (Chronological order is a way of arranging actions, events or things according to the time they occurred). This helps you to remember the flow of the speech better.

For instance, when speaking about the interests of Millennials, namely eating healthily, listening to music and travelling. We can connect the images in the following chronological order.

• Having a salad for breakfast
• Listening to music on the way to work
• Reading travel books before bedtime.

4.     Elaborate Rehearsal

Lastly, replay the scenario continuously in your mind until the mind is ingrain with it. Start rehearsing it out loud in front of people whom you trust to gather feedback. Practice numerous times, adjust and make tweaks to further improve on the delivery.

After you have mastered the DACE method, you will be able to deliver an impactful speech without notes for the required time. With that you will not need to worry about the possibility of missing out the key ideas of your speech.