Speech preparation checklist
Nerves are rarely about not having enough to say — they're about not being sure how it lands. Practising out loud, more than once, fixes most of that.
15 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Occasion and audience thought through before writing a wordA room of colleagues and a room of family laugh at different things — write for who's actually there.
- Stories or material gathered from people who know them wellAsk around early — the best anecdotes rarely come from your own memory alone.
- Structure roughed out — an opening, two or three stories, a close
- First draft written well ahead of the day, not the night before
- Anything sensitive checked with someone who'd know if it crosses a lineThe story that seems harmless to you can land very differently for the person it's about.
- Length checked out loud with a timer, not by word count on the page
- Jokes tested on at least one other person before the dayWhat's funny in your head is not always funny said aloud to a quiet room.
- Difficult names or details double-checked for pronunciation
- Printed copy prepared as well as anything on a phoneA phone that locks or dies mid-speech is the most avoidable disaster in any speech.
- Practised standing up, out loud, more than once
- Practised in front of at least one other person, if nerves allow it
- Water nearby for the day itself
- Running order confirmed with whoever's hosting, so there's no surprise about when to stand up
- A toast or final line agreed, so the ending is clear rather than trailing off
- Microphone or acoustics checked in advance, if the venue is large
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- How long should a speech actually be?
- Five minutes is usually plenty, ten is a lot. Time it out loud rather than by the word count on the page — spoken pace is slower than reading pace.
- Should I write it out in full or work from notes?
- Whichever you'll actually be able to follow under nerves. A full script read well beats notes read badly, but practise either enough times that you're not reading it for the first time in front of a room.
- What if I go blank halfway through?
- Have it printed on paper as well as on a phone, in a large enough font to read at arm's length. A phone that locks or a battery that dies is the most avoidable disaster in any speech.