Do I need to memorize my speech?
The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.
Do I need to memorize my speech?
Your Public Affairs Director: “Yes, you will seem more professional if you memorize your speech.”
Your speech Coach: “Yes, with enough hours of rehearsal, you can memorize your speech.”
You: “Ugh!!! I guess I have to memorize my speech. This is going to be long, hard, difficult work, but I guess I have to do it. Goodbye family, friends and fun for the next two weeks!”
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Your Audience: “Of course we don’t want you to ignore us or read to us or have your head buried in a bunch of papers. But don’t give us too much credit. We can’t really tell if you have memorized your speech or not, and, frankly, we don’t care. If you’d like to use a single page of notes that you refer to from time to time, we certainly won’t hold that against you. Of course the less obvious about looking at your notes, the more you will fool us into thinking you simply know your subject matter cold. There’s certainly nothing wrong with using a cheat sheet. After all, you aren’t taking a geometry test.”