by Cam Barber
Why does it work so well? The speech outline as checklist
Do you recall the 2009 crash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River? The plane lost power in both engines after flying into a flock of geese, soon after leaving New York. Sometimes referred to as ‘The Miracle on the Hudson’, all 155 people on board survived. The cockpit audio from the ‘Black box recorder’ was played over and over on talk shows and newscasts.
The captain, Chesley Sullenberger, who was lauded for his skill and composure during the crisis, can be heard clearly on the cockpit audio relying on checklists during the first part of the transcript.
You can hear the pilots clearly following checklists. No matter how much experience they have, all pilots use checklists. On every single flight. Great chefs still use recipes to ensure their creations are repeatable. The construction industry uses plans and checklists to manage building projects and prevent the confusion of having different tradespeople working over the top of each other. In fact, in almost every industry, checklists of one sort or another are used to manage the demands of high volumes of information.
It just makes sense.
Yet, for some reason, few people use a reliable checklist for the creation of a speech or presentation. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that people think of an outline, as an extra step. ‘Wouldn’t I be better spending my limited time writing my speech rather than both planning it, then writing it?’ they ask.
No, you wouldn’t.
Recent findings in neuroscience research show that our brains become overwhelmed much more easily and more often than most people realise. This leads to weak clarification skills, sloppy planning and wasted effort. The neuroscience also argues that we can avoid overwhelm and improve brain performance dramatically when we do the following:
• Get things out of our heads on to paper or screen: because there is a tight limit to the number of things that can be held in the mind and manipulated at any one time.
• Prioritise before we take action: because our prefrontal cortex, the clarification part of the brain, requires a lot of energy to function.
• Create a simple framework for thinking: because our brain becomes overwhelmed easily and this lets it focus on one step at a time.
• See the relationship between things visually: because it’s hard to think of new ideas if they don’t connect to existing ideas in some way.
• Simplify and chunk information: because the most powerful tool to help the brain function at its peak, is chunking.
• Do your sorting, comparing and deep thinking in the outline stage, not when overwhelmed by details: because it keeps you focused and avoids hitting ‘the wall’.
A speech outline that incorporates these techniques will benefit you in 3 ways:
First, a speech outline saves you time and effort
Adding the outline step can significantly cut preparation time and effort by getting ideas out of your head and sorted. Without an outline you are using an Information First approach, where you dive into all the information related to the talk. This is common. But it’s a bit like starting a trip without looking at a map of where you’re going. You get moving quickly, but you’re not sure which milestones are important and can waste time in locations that take you off track. You can end up going around in circles.
Using an outline is a Clarity First approach, where you identify your message and key points as the first step. It’s like checking the directions of a trip on Google Maps before you start driving. You prioritise before you take action. It requires clear thinking in the beginning, but saves a huge amount of time and frustration throughout the journey. My estimation is that every minute spent on getting clarity first will save you about 20 minutes in editing and rethinking later on.
Second, a speech outline makes you more compelling
Creating a simple framework for thinking helps us consider ideas and information objectively, which leads to more lucid and persuasive explanations.
The outline works as an attention-directing tool that helps us organise ideas more effectively. Why do we need an attention-directing tool? Neuroscience tells us that the more items we have in our mind, the more our memory degrades for each item. So getting the ideas and information out of our head and into the outline helps us focus, and access our brain’s full processing power.
The longer our brain works on an idea continuously, the more it becomes exhausted. Using an outline is quicker because we leave the detail until last. It helps us simplify and chunk information. This reduces mental steps so we can use our brain for deep thinking, and have more mental capacity left to edit and refine.
All this creates a better environment for ‘Aha!’ moments in which we see more clearly what will be required to influence an audience. This helps us to be perceived as a thoughtful, focused person and leverage our knowledge and talent, which in turn leads to greater success in selling ideas.
Third, a speech outline dissolves anxiety
Creating an outline as the first step in the planning process, fills the gaps of uncertainty that form when you accept an offer to speak in public. Specifically, you get clear about your message, key points, structure and potential questions the audience might ask. And this happens very early in your preparation.
This is HUGE.
After completing the outline (not your whole speech or all your slides, just the outline), you’ll know how to start your talk, how you’re going to end, and the key ‘landmarks’ throughout. You’ll have a good feel for the flow of your talk and you’ll be prepared for the tough questions.
Knowing that you know this will dissolve a truckload of uncertainty.
In fact, when you fail to get clarity about these things early in your preparation, you can unwittingly create an environment for unease. This speech outline, in combination with the 5 ClarityFirst principles, creates an environment for natural confidence.
The reason for my rant!
I know I’m ranting about ‘the outline’. But it solves so many problems at their cause! Here’s another example - have you ever had a boss or colleague give you feedback on your presentation after it’s complete? This doesn’t usually help - it’s about minor points that don’t matter, or big things that are too late to change.
Instead, ask for feedback at the outline stage.
Show your boss the outline on a single page and ask, “Here’s my key message and my supporting arguments, what do you think?” Often a manager is so impressed at your clarity, they trust you to continue without their meddling, um, I mean, their help.
If there was a drug that could make your communication twice as effective in half the time, would you take it? The Vivid Speech Outline is just such a ‘drug’. And the side effects are all positive! I recommend you get addicted to scribbling an outline every time you need to communicate your ideas.
The difference between a traditional outline and a Vivid Speech Outline
The Vivid Speech Outline is turbo charged - it speeds up the planning process and adds power and control when speaking.
It’s slightly different to a traditional outline, in 3 ways.
The first difference is about your message. Most public speaking methods just assume you know your message and simply leave a place for a ‘summary’ at the end of the outline.
Not good enough. We know from Principle 3 (we all have the Closeness Problem) that most people don’t clarify a compelling message. So the outline should guide you through the crafting of your message. Some traditional outlines will guide you through a ‘purpose statement’, or an ‘objectives statement’ or a ‘topic sentence’ or a variation on this theme.
Still not good enough. While they might help you clarify your goals for the talk, they have one major flaw. They are not written in the words you will say to your audience. They are written in the words you will say to yourself. For example, a purpose statement might be:
‘I want to impress them with my experience and convince them to the suppor
t the project.’
What words will you actually say to your audience?
However, when will your words be translated to the exact words you will say to convince your audience? Usually never. This also means you won’t have a chance to test your message out loud - which is so helpful in refining it.
So, with a purpose statement, when you stand up to speak, you still haven’t clarified the language you will use to engage your audience - which leaves you open to vagueness and uncertainty. Too many speakers get to the end of a speech or presentation and either try to summarise their message on the fly, under the pressure of the spotlight; or they repeat some of the points they’ve covered; or they don’t summarise at all, leaving the audience to work it out for themselves.
Preparing a Vivid Speech Outline starts with your ‘Message Statement’. It helps you see your message objectively and guides your preparation with laser-like focus. A Message Statement gives you certainty about where you’re headed in your speech and provides you with a strong end to your presentation.
The second difference between a traditional speech outline and Vivid Speech Outline is related to structure and key points. A traditional outline has the following basic structure:
A Traditional Outline:
Introduction
1. First section.
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah
2. Second section
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah
3. Third section
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah
Conclusion
This is a good starting point. But it doesn’t take advantage of what we know about memory and recall - that people will forget 90%-98% of what you say. This is not a bad thing - just a fact. So, it makes sense to emphasise the key point for each section during your talk.
If we define the 2%-10% they could remember, in the planning stage, we can seed our structure with the gold that we want them to retain. Your goal should be message recall, and the speech outline should help ensure your audience retains your message and key points. So, at the end we change ‘summary’ to ‘message’. And at the end of each section we add a ‘key point’ to summarise the section and give the audience the short, sticky point they can easily retain. Simple, but powerful.
Here’s how the Vivid outline looks with these 2 additions:
A Vivid Outline:
Introduction
1. First section
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah
Key point for section 1
2. Second section
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah
Key point for section 2
3. Third section
Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah
Key point for section 3
Message Statement
(The exact words of a 1 or 2 sentence message that you’d like your audience to recall or repeat…)
I call this a ‘chunk’ structure - where the key point of each section, or chunk, is captured as a short sentence which closes that chunk. More on Chunk Structure later.
The exact words you will say
The third difference is that these 2 tweaks, as well the chunk headings (everything you see in bold above) are written in the exact words you will say, from the beginning of your planning. You’ll soon see that tweaking the wording of these headings can make a big difference in capturing your audience’s attention early on in your talk.
Notice we haven’t spent any time on the body of the talk, yet if it was a real presentation, it would be starting to feel complete. We’d have the exact words for the start, the key points and the ending. This allows us to test and refine the scope of a talk quickly and effortlessly. It’s clarity first, not information first.
These small differences between a Vivid Speech Outline and a traditional speech outline, have dramatic benefits - for both the planning and delivery of a talk.
CRAFTING YOUR MESSAGE, STEP-BY-STEP
Now, let’s put an outline together.
The first step is to define your Message Statement, which involves asking yourself three questions. Let’s go through those questions now.
Question 1: WHO are you talking to?
The Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero famously said: “If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.”
So, the first step is to consider WHO you’re talking to. Look into the mind of your listener and view the world from their perspective. The quickest way to do this is to consider the 4 ‘views’ of your audience.
View 1: Their role.
For example, what does their job role focus on? Consider age, personality style, gender, and so on.
View 2: Their biases.
For example, what’s their likely attitude to the subject/you/your organisation? Are they sceptical or open? For example, have they bad experiences in the past - or have all experiences been wonderful? For example, how much do they know about this subject? Is it a priority? Consider the possible blocks at this point.
View 3: Their wants.
For example, what are their needs in relation to this issue? What’s important to their role generally? What do they value? What achieves their goals or gets them promoted? Any KPIs linked to this subject? (For example: profit, efficiency.)
View 4: Their concerns.
For example, what objections might pop into their mind when they hear your talk? What questions or concerns might be raised? What answers will they need to convince others? (Consider the potential negatives they may have and write them down in their words.)
By writing 2 or 3 points under each ‘view’, you’ll quickly build a profile of your audience. Now you may be wondering; what if there’s a range of different people in my audience, with different roles and goals? Good question. This happens a lot. Firstly, prioritise. Who do you want to influence most in this audience? Direct your key points to them. Secondly, find common wants/needs/perspectives and focus on those as well.
Let’s look at an example:
Imagine you’re updating a Board of 12 Directors on a project that has fallen behind schedule:
• View 1, their role: CEO, CTO, COO and non-executive directors; have only a medium level of knowledge of your project; are time-poor and like summaries not details; technical expertise is limited.
• View 2, their biases: Sceptical towards the project because this is the second delay and benefits seem a long way off. Concerned the organisation’s resources are being wasted on ‘pipe dream’ projects.
• View 3, their wants and needs: Profitability, both short term and long term; need to explain decisions to shareholders and the press; need to be seen to make good decisions and run the company well.
• View 4: Their concerns and questions: How much more will it cost? Should we scrap it? How realistic are the benefits? How realistic is your new timeline?
Question 2: WHAT do you want them to think or do?
Now answer the question: ‘WHAT do I want the audience to think or do as a result of my presentation?’ This is a single idea that drives your talk. It’s the heart of your message. Clear your mind of the details and isolate one thing you want the audience members to think or do.
Firstly, ‘do’. Will you want your audience to do something as a result of your talk? For example:
“Use this new process.”
“Provide $20 million in funding for this project.”
“Approve this proposal.”
“Trial this product.”
“Engage us to provide ABC service.”
“Provide feedback by XYZ date”.
Secondly, ‘think’. Perhaps you don’t want them to do anything, you just want them to think something. For example:
“The project is on track.”
“The project is behind, but there are good reasons for this and the situation is under control.”
“This product will
provide better results at a lower price.”
“The ‘X’ project has 3 benefits…”
“The restructure will be disruptive at first, but will strengthen the organisation.”
“Learning this method will make you better at your job”.
Choose one thing
Of course, you may want the audience to think or do several things. The problem is that the more you say, the less they’ll retain. Find the single most important thing you want the audience to think or do. For the example above, you might say to yourself; ‘Well, I really want them to trust me and to understand the reasons for the delay and that ultimately the benefits of the project are not in jeopardy.’
The trouble with this is that it sounds like a purpose statement we talked about earlier. It’s not written in the words you will say to your audience. Using the words you would say, might be something like:
“The project is behind, but there are good reasons for this and we have them under control.”
Great. You’ve isolated the main point, and made a claim. This is the first half of your Message Statement. Let’s look at the second half of your Message Statement…