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A few years ago I was attending a Toastmaster Conference. During one of the educational sessions a young lady spoke on using mind mapping to prepare a speech. I love mind mapping and had been using the process for goal setting every year, but had never thought about using this technique for preparing a speech. I was excited to try it out. I used it for my next speech and found it works wonderfully.
I’m sure most of you know what mind mapping is, but just in case you don’t, it looks like this:
Normally when we’re planning a speech, we start writing. We’re planning in a linear way. First we try to come up with a WOW opening and spend hours looking at the paper. Or we jot down some ideas on lined paper, one idea per line and then we try and sqeeze points beside each idea, ending up with something you can’t read.
Because it’s not linear, mind mapping gives you the freedom to jump around from idea to idea, adding points as you come up with each idea. The brain doesn’t work in a linear fashion, so this concept fits perfectly with brainstorming. Creativity flows! As Tony Buzan points out (www.thinkbuzan.com) “Research shows that the brain likes to work on the basis of association and it will connect every idea, memory or piece of information to tens, hundreds and even thousands of other ideas and concepts.” Plus, as you write ideas on the map, you can easily see how they fit into specific groupings. Using colours for different groupings adds to the fun. As an added benefit, the map helps us remember what we want to say.
The example above is perfect for writing a speech. Depending on the amount of time you have, you can add more points. The only other thing I would add is one sentence on what the objective of your speech is. That way you can keep focused on the objective rather than going off on tangents that aren’t relevant to your topic. For each of your points, you will want to add either a personal story, a statistic to support your theme, or a quotation. (Smooth Talking Jan 31, 2014)
Finally, you will want your conclusion to tie back to your introduction. (Smooth Talking , Jan. 2, 2014) .
There are a number of companies that produce software for mind mapping on a computer. These would be useful if doing a complex, technical presentation that is a few hours in duration. The software can also be used to prepare a power point or similar software for presenting. For a speech up to ten minutes, you can pull out a piece of paper and save yourself $295!
I encourage you to get our your colored pencils, start mind mapping your next speech and let the creativity flow. It’s a playful, powerful technique.
Mary Anthes is a retired business owner, speaker and a Distinguished Toastmaster. She can be reached at nmanthes@shaw.ca
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