Lay It Out on Paper - Part 1

Articles In This Section:

· Lay It Out on Paper - Part 1

· Lay It Out on Paper - Part 2

· Lay It Out on Paper - Part 3

Now that we have a synopsis, the next step is to lay out the speech on paper. Let's put it on one sheet where we can look at all of it at one time. It is difficult to consider the parts of a talk when they are on different sheets of paper, but when the parts are on one sheet, you can look, analyze, consider, and shift around to your heart's content. Just take a sheet of ordinary-size letter paper and mark it off in squares. I usually use a larger piece of paper so that I will have larger squares and can write more on each one.

The illustration below shows how such a layout will look when you have the paper squared off and have written the notes from your synopsis on the squares. Since this is a how-to talk, the subjects can be handled in almost any order; they have been marked on the sheet in the order given in the synopsis. The numbers in the upper right-hand corners of the squares indicate the order in which the subjects were listed in the synopsis.

With the subjects so laid out you can check for complete coverage. Have you listed all the points that should be covered? If not, what points should be brought in? Write these in one of the spare squares and indicate by arrows where they belong in the talk.

After I had studied the material shown on the layout on the following page, the order was changed to the order indicated by the numbers in the upper left-hand corners of the squares. This shift in sequence was made because some of the parts had better speech material than others, and the shift scattered the high points throughout the talk.

"What about logical order?" you ask. I'm trying to tell you how to write an interesting speech—with the points in the order that will make the best speech. The trouble with most speeches is that the high points are bunched at one place and are followed by a long stretch of dead material. The usual practice is to throw the high points at the audience, one, two, three, four; then the lesser points; and finally the and-so-forths. The elements may be arranged in the logical order of importance, but I'm sure you'll agree that if you reversed the order, started with the and-so-forths, and wound up with the high points, you'd make a better speech.

OUTLINE—HOW TO RUN A SALES MEETING

1. DEFINITION

What it is Group sale Mechanical vs. mental

2. THE ROOM

Selecting room Theatre arrangement Entrance -Milwaukee Chairs Assistant Chairman-St. Paul Head table

3. VARIETY

Vaudeville

Ball of fire

Pail of water

Meetings too much alike

30 days of meetings

Keep awake