Episode 5 FINAL

The speaker suggests that adding physicality and gestures to your script can help with memorization. The podcast is aimed at Christ-led entrepreneurs and leaders who want to make an impact. The host offers a giveaway for listeners to win prizes. The episode focuses on a step-by-step process for memorizing a talk, highlighting the importance of practice and developing the memorization muscle. The host also discusses different approaches to memorization for different types of speaking engagements. If you add in these little movements and physicality and gestures within your script, that's going to help you memorize each piece. Because the more you do it, you're like, oh, yeah, when I walk to the right, that's when I talk about X, Y, Z. Your body will start to remember. Do you dream of sharing your message on stages but are still terrified you'll mess it up? Want to crush your online videos so that you can grow your business, but you feel super awkward and hate the sound of your voice? Or maybe you simply want to feel more confident in the boardroom without reading your notes and fumbling over your words? Hello, new friend, and welcome to the Speaking and Storytelling Podcast, a show for Christ-led entrepreneurs and leaders who want to make a humongous impact in the world. I'm so glad you're here. I'm your host, Emanuella, a stage actress and playwright turned speaking coach and story consultant. Whether you want to master speaking on stages, online, in the boardroom, or the classroom, if you believe you're meant to make an impact in the world and you know your voice and story is the ticket to get you there, then this podcast is for you, my friend. Over the past four years, I've helped dozens of entrepreneurs find and tell their stories, speak with authority, and captivate their audience so that they can grow their visibility, further their God-given mission, and change the world. If you're ready to do that, too, then sit back, grab a pen and paper, and enjoy the show. Hello, and welcome back to the Speaking and Storytelling Podcast. I'm your host, Emanuella Hall, and this is episode number five, my step-by-step process for memorizing a talk. Before we jump into today's episode, I would love to know, are you loving this podcast so far? It's still very, very new, I understand, because if you are, I want to let you know about a little giveaway that we are doing, and in this giveaway that is running up until the end of June, you have the opportunity to win two really, really cool prizes. Now, there was three, but one has been already given away, because this giveaway actually started last week inside my private Facebook community. If you are not yet a part of the Speaking and Storytelling Mastery Facebook group, you're going to want to go and join us there, because that's where we do lots of giveaways like this, workshops, special events, and even some live recordings that don't always make it to the podcast. And also, a really, really great community of other like-minded entrepreneurs. If you want to join us, again, it's the Speaking and Storytelling Mastery Facebook group. The link is in the show notes. Now, even if you are not in the group, this giveaway is going to continue, like I said, until the end of June, and the other two prizes are this. The first one is access to the Speak with Grit module. This is the fourth module inside of the Captivating Speakers Academy, which is my signature group program. You're going to hear me talk a lot about the Captivating Speakers Academy, but one of the giveaways gives you access to all of the trainings inside the fourth module, which I call Speak with Grit, because this is the module that teaches you what your speaking blocks are, how you can become a more confident speaker. This is all of the mindset stuff. This is the stories we've been told as kids about the way we should sound and speak. Our culture, our gender, our upbringing, our peer influence, our careers, all of these things that come into play when it comes to using our voice. It's the module that teaches you how to really speak from a place of empowerment and, you know, keep going the course when things don't always go the course, when you feel like you're getting derailed in a talk. It's a really great and powerful module. If you struggle with confidence when you speak, you're going to want that. The first place prize is 50% off any of my programs that you can use up to a year from now. So that could give you access to the Captivating Speakers Academy, a one-on-one session with me, a one-on-one program, any workshop that I do. You get to decide how you want to use that 50% scholarship. Here is how you enter this awesome giveaway. All you have to do is go over to Apple Podcasts, find this show, if you're not already there listening to it, and leave me a review. And before you hit send, make sure you screenshot that review and you can send it to me. I will drop my email in the show notes, but it's info at emmanuellahall.com, or you can come and join the Facebook group and post it in there. Once you do that, you will be entered into the draw. And then at the end of June, I will be pulling the names. Okay, so you can go ahead and pause this episode right now. Go ahead, write that review, screenshot it, send it to me or post it inside the Facebook group, and join the giveaway. Okay, friend, here we go. Today, we are talking about a step-by-step process for memorizing your talk. I often have clients tell me they really, really struggle with memorization. So I thought this was a great topic to jump in with right away. Now, there are obviously elements that come to play when it comes to memorization. I do believe that age is a part of it. I can tell myself it is a lot harder to memorize than it used to be. But a piece of that is practice. Because when I was doing a lot of plays and performing all the time, I was really good at memorizing. When I was in school, high school, and university, I can memorize my notes for the next day really easily. But I just don't do that kind of stuff as much now. It's the same with how when I was bartending and waiting tables, I was really quick with math and really quick with change. And now when somebody hands me a 20 and then it's like, oh, here, I'm going to add a dime, I'm like, wait a minute, how do I do this math? Because I'm just out of practice. So if you think you struggle with memorizing, it could just be that you haven't developed that part of your brain because you're not doing it consistently enough. No worries. Because our brain is always evolving and it's always creating new pathways, new synapses. This is science, my friend. This is true stuff. So the more you work that muscle, the easier it's going to be. Now, of course, this is for a regular healthy brain. If you have some sort of brain injury or malfunction, of course, there's going to be some challenges for you if you have a certain diagnosis. So this is for people with fairly average brains. If there are other things impeding your ability to memorize, then that's something you're going to want to work on with a coach one-on-one because that would be unique to your specific diagnosis or situation. Now, I also want to say that this is my process for memorizing big talks, like a speech you've been asked to give or a talk at an event specifically, or I should say especially, if it's one that you're getting paid to do. It doesn't mean that a non-paid gig is any less valuable or any less important, but I do believe that if you are getting paid to do something, you should be developing this muscle and this skill. As opposed to, for example, what I'm doing right now, I'm podcasting. Now, this is a video recording as well. These are going to be on my YouTube channel, but I can check my notes. So I don't really need to memorize my podcast. And when I do live recordings, Facebook Lives, Instagram Lives, even when I do webinars, I don't really memorize. I definitely write all my notes down first. I'm not huge on slides, but that's one way you could do it is use slides, and then you really just have to say the material that appears on the slide. I see a lot of coaches and a lot of online entrepreneurs do this. No shame in using slides. It's not my favorite, especially not to have up on the screen all the time because we want to know you. We want to see you. But that is a topic for another day. So for today's episode, what I am focusing on is how to memorize a big talk. And when I say big, it doesn't mean necessarily long. It can be a 10-minute big talk, but a talk that you want to be able to really move people and captivate them, and you don't want to be locked into your notes. So I wanted to clarify that as we move on. If you are someone who isn't probably going to be doing a lot of live in-person talks, but you do a lot of on-camera things, or maybe you want to start growing your visibility, you want to start doing more lives, maybe you want to create a course and have some more videos in your tool belt, then you might want to grab the on-camera checklist and script outline. This is a freebie that I have, and I will put it also in the show notes for you. Lots of things to check out in those show notes today, my friend. Because that walks you through how to prepare your tech, how to prepare your script, and how to prepare, most importantly, yourself. How to warm yourself up so that you can present and speak on camera with confidence, clarity, and conviction. My favorite C's. If you do that, and you also do live talks, or you're hoping to do live talks, then keep listening to this episode, because I'm going to walk you through how you can memorize it. Step by step, this is exactly what I do. Step one. I write the whole outline by hand. Yes, I get a pen, and I get a paper. I usually have a big, giant notebook. I'm holding it up on camera. You can't see it because of my backdrop, but it's like a ringed notebook that I get usually from Indigo. It has little dividers already in it. I write everything out by hand because there is, I don't know what the scientific name is, but there is something with your brain and writing that actually helps you. We're going to talk about that a little bit more. But it actually helps you develop your idea and remember it more. I take a big paper, and I write at the top whatever the topic is, and I start maybe with the topics I want to cover, and then I go in and write little things down. First is outline. Usually for something like this, my podcast, that is all I do. I write the outline, and then I present, because I've gotten really comfortable with this over the last four years. If you're doing a talk, again, if it's something big, lots of people are going to be there, even a workshop you're giving in person, and you don't want to be tied to your notes, you don't want to be glancing at them because you want to be engaging, then you're going to want to continue with this process. By the way, you should have a pen and paper right now to write down all of these notes, or save this episode and come back and write them down. Number two. After I have written down the whole outline, what I do is I type it up. I type up the actual way I want to say it. I often will be typing, if you're my husband or somebody that lives with me, you'll hear me, like, speaking out loud as I'm typing the words, because I want to know what it's going to sound like out loud. You want it to sound like you. You don't want to type this beautiful, poetic thing that you would never actually say. So I put in words like, like, like. I put in words that I actually say in real life, so when I go to print that script, it sounds like me. Just a little bit of a polished version, obviously. Well, step two is type it all out. Just write, write, write, write, write. Try not to edit yourself right away. Just see what flows out of you. Set some time aside in your calendar, a good hour. It might not all get done right away, depending on how long your talk is. It's okay to put it down and come back to it, because I find often trying to hammer it all out in one minute, sorry, in one sitting, is not a good idea, because things will come to you. You'll have new ideas. You want to give yourself lots of time for this memorizing process. I should have started with that. The one thing you don't want to do is cram. Don't be like I did on my high school calculus tests, like cram the week before or cram the night before. Give yourself time. Usually these things are booked in advance. Give yourself time to write out something you're really proud of, and then you have all the time in the world to memorize it. You're not trying to do both of those things at once. Number two is type it all up. Number three is go back, reread it, and make any edits. This is while it's still on your computer, just to save paper, right? You want to make as many edits as you can on your computer. It might help to have somebody else read it with you or read it. You can send it to a friend. Send it to me if I'm your coach, and I will help you. The next piece, number four, this is where you print it out. You hold it in your hand, and you read it out loud. That's going to be where you really feel it. Stand up. Get in the posture that you're going to have for this talk. So if you're standing, stand up. If you're going to be at a podium, can you find something you can use as a podium? If you're going to have a mic, can you hold something as a mic? Start to practice saying it out loud with the piece of paper. The next thing we're going to do, the next two steps are really what I would do when I was memorizing lines for theater. So this is really helpful. Number five is you're going to want to chunk it out. Chunk it out. What I mean is create what we call beats. Within your talk, I'm sure, let's say you're given a talk about how to live a healthy lifestyle. Maybe the first piece is your introduction where you tell everybody what you're going to hear. Then you go into your story. Then you go into healthy habits. Then you go into exercise. Then you go into meal planning. And then maybe you go into mindset, and then at the end you recap. And throughout there, there might be little stories you weave in, but those are called beats. How can you chunk out your talk into little beats that are going to make it easier for you to memorize? You may even want to color-code them or draw circles around each piece. Then what you're going to want to do, this is step seven, is you're going to memorize the chunk order, just like I said it. So you know, okay, first I introduce. I start with a joke or I start with questions. Then I have my intro. Then I have my story. Then I have this piece, this piece, this piece, this piece. So you're not actually memorizing the lines, but you have it ingrained in your brain the order. That is the most important. And sometimes it might be helpful to make it like a little acronym, like a BBOP, and the B stands for whatever, right? You get the idea. You're going to have a little acronym or colors, like I said, within your script. And then you can even think of those colors in your mind as you're going through the chunks. Another way, and this is how actors do it to help with memorizing, is you can block out your talk with your physical body. Now, if you are at a podium, there's not going to be a lot of blocking because you're mostly standing in one place looking at people. A really captivating speaker is often not behind a podium. I'm not saying you can't captivate behind a podium, but if you have the option to take up space and you have a big audience, you're going to want to think about how do I want to move across the stage. Okay, so when I start my speech, I'm going to stand center stage, and it's going to look straight ahead, and I'm going to say this joke, and then I'm going to look to my right and laugh or whatever. It doesn't have to be that specific. But then maybe you walk over to stage left when you say this next piece, and then maybe you take a sip of water before you say this next piece. If you add in these little movements and physicality and gestures within your script, that's going to help you memorize each piece because the more you do it, you're like, oh, yeah, when I walk to the right, that's when I talk about X, Y, Z. Your body will start to remember. Okay, I hope this is making sense and landing for you. Number eight. This should go without saying. You're going to practice. And I don't mean just like when you have time, when no one's around, and you can sit in your office or stand in your bedroom and practice. I mean when you're in the shower, you can run through chunks one and two. Then when you're blow-drying your hair, you can run through chunks three and four in your mind. Then when you're driving your kids to school, you can run through chunks five and six, as long as you can do that and drive safely. Practicing when you can, where you can. You're folding a load of laundry. Instead of consuming content that day and putting it on a podcast or an audiobook, unless it's my podcast, obviously, you're going to be practicing your talk because I have so many clients say, I don't have time. I know. I know. I know life is full, my friend, but you can weave in your memorizing. You can weave in your practicing when you're doing those little tasks, those little day-to-day things. If you work a full-time job and you're in a household, I get it. There's not a lot of time. If you could schedule maybe 10 minutes a day, like say in the morning, after you do your workout, give yourself an extra five minutes to, again, just run through chunk A, and tomorrow you'll do chunk B. When you break your talk down into these little chunks, it's going to make it a lot easier to memorize. Number nine, have a friend help you. We call this have someone on book. This is what we say in the industry. So they'll have somebody else on book with your notes, and you can tell them, oh, wait, I think I missed one. I did. We're going to go back. Oh, my goodness. So we're going to go back. After you chunk it out, we're going to write it on two cards. This is an important step. I can't believe I forgot the most important step, one of the most. Let me review because we got a little messed up here. Number one is write your outline by hand. Number two is type it up. Number three is reread it and edit it. Number four is print it out and read it out loud. Number five is chunk it into beats. Yeah, because I scribbled on my page here. So don't do what I did because then I passed over the scribble. Number six is write it in point form on cue cards. This is important again because now we're using that writing thing again. So you have the big script on your full pieces of paper. Maybe it's like eight pages. Then you take your little cue cards, your little, I think they're called something else, the little cards. You can buy them usually at the dollar store. They're like card stock, but they're small. You're going to write out those chunks in point form. Under each heading, the heading is the chunk. So let's go back to our example of the health talk. If one of the chunks is healthy habits, then under that you can write in point form. Morning routines, prayer time, whatever it is, what those healthy habits are. Maybe if there's a certain line that you've written that you really, really want to memorize because you love the way it sounds and it really lands, or maybe it's a piece of scripture, then you're going to want to write that on the cue card as well. I don't suggest writing front and back because then you're flipping them over. You just want to be flipping them behind your hand. It is great to practice with cue cards because it's less, your eyes don't have to be locked into a big giant piece of paper. If you are moving around in the full talk, you're going to be able to practice better. You just have these cue cards in one hand. You can move around. You can walk from side to side. If you know you're going to be at a podium and there is something or a lectern and there's a place to put your notes, you may want to skip this step and just type your notes up in larger print. Maybe even each chunk is a separate page. Every time you turn the page, you're in a new chunk and the notes are written in big. Because if you're at a podium or a lectern, you can have your notes. I just don't want you holding them in front of your face. You can glance at them. Same with your cue cards. If you're walking around, maybe they're on a stool with your water. You can take a water break and you can find where you are in your cue cards. This is for you to decide if you want to put them on cue cards. If you're not behind a podium, I would highly suggest cue cards. If you are behind a podium, print it up in bigger font. Then we memorize the order with the chunks. You can use an acronym. You can use blocking to help you. Then number eight is practicing in the shower when you're driving. Number nine is having someone help you be on book. So you're going to hand somebody your cue cards and you're going to practice and they're going to help you if you get off course. If you don't have anybody to help you, don't stress. Or if you don't want to bother anybody to listen to your 45-minute talk, I'm sure it wouldn't be a bother because I'm sure you're going to offer so much great information that they're going to want to hear your talk. But the other option is you hit record and you practice. And then you can pause it. If you forget, this is also great for you to watch yourself and learn how your voice sounds and your delivery. However, if you are doing a live talk, it's going to obviously look a little different on camera, so I wouldn't get too attached to how you look on camera because you're going to want to be moving around. And again, this is an episode for another day, but there are differences, of course, between how we speak on camera or on a podcast and how we're going to speak to a big audience. That was a big sniffle I'm going to have to edit out of this episode. Number 10. We are at the end of the step-by-step process. Number 10 is repeat whatever step you need. After you've gone through all this and you're still struggling, go back and rewrite it out on new cue cards. I'm not kidding. A couple months ago, I had a talk and I had written them out, color-coded on these beautiful little cue cards, and actually the cue cards themselves were different colors, so I was able to chunk it out really nicely. That's going to be my new phrase, chunk it out. About four hours before the talk, I was getting dinner ready for my family and then I was going to head out to a different location to warm up and prepare myself about an hour before the event, and I could not find my cue cards. I was cooking dinner. I was probably on Instagram doing something in my stories and I lost my cue cards, and I was, let's just say, not my finest moment. Looked all over the house. Could not find them. So when I got to this next location where I was supposed to prepare, I just rewrote it all out. I did. And you know what? I believe that God allowed that to happen because he knew if you read it again, you're going to know it a little better. And then I didn't even need the cue cards. I didn't even look at them. So if you're struggling, I highly recommend rewriting it, adding color, adding blocking. Go back to these steps. Keep practicing in your shower when you're driving, and if you're really, really struggling, see if you can get someone to help you. Maybe invest in a coach who can help you with that. I would not mind. All right, my friend. I hope this has been helpful for you. If you have any notes for me, any takeaways, again, post inside the Facebook community or shoot me an email. Let me know what your big takeaways are, and don't forget to jump into that giveaway. It's running until the end of June. All you have to do is write me a review, screenshot it, send it to me, and you are in, my friend. That is one entry, and I want you to win. Go ahead and do that. Enjoy the rest of your beautiful day. God bless. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Speaking and Storytelling Podcast. Now, I'd love to hear your voice. What's one thing you learned from today's episode? How did it inspire you, and how will you take action today? You can let me know by leaving a review or visit me on Instagram at Emanuela.Paul. My friend, remember that you were born for such a time as this, so get out there and fearlessly share your unique God-given voice because it just might be the thing that changes the world.