I just read an interesting article from the NT Times which seems to relate to giving a speech. It says, “The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.” The two other methods were continued studying or draw diagrams about what they are learning.
It occurs to me that when you “practice out loud” a section of your speech, that what you are doing is taking a test in a sense. You’re trying to remember what that section is and give it back to your audience.
So it seems logical that one of the best ways to learn a speech is to practice your speech in sections, as much as possible and as early in the speech writing process as possible. Many speakers “study” their speech, rewrite their speech in numerous variations, but don’t take much time, if any, to actually practice their speech before it’s time to actually give the speech.
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