How to speech

My process for writing a best man speech began with me writing it word-for-word, essay style.  I found that, pretty much, the first ideas to pop in my head ended up being the main content for the speech.  I then stripped that back down to quite brief notes and divided it into logical sections and practiced each section separately.  After a few run throughs, each section had evolved so I expanded the notes again to cover the new bits or altered turn of phrase.  In the end I had a few extra points that were really just one-liners and didn’t fit in well, rather than disrupt the flow, I binned them completely.  I figured I would rather have a shorter speech that one filled with waffle.  In my last practice, it took 9mins 30secs – I have no idea how long it took on the day – I spoke too quickly but then had the odd pause for the audience to recover(?), so I would guess a similar time.   This ‘essay-note-sections-practice-revised notes’ system worked well I think.

I promised myself it would be written way earlier, and practiced way more, but I am not sure that would have made much difference.  In a way, I think over practicing can be dangerous – too learned and if you get lost, you’re stuffed.  So just blag it.