Design a mental structure before you speak.

Designing a mental structure before speaking is a key strategy in the art of public speaking. A good mental structure helps us organize our ideas, convey our message clearly and persuasively, and maintain focus during our presentation. In this session, we will explore the importance of designing a mental structure before speaking and provide practical tips on how to achieve it.

The importance of a mental structure: A well-designed mental structure gives us a solid framework on which to build our speech. It helps us organize our ideas in a logical and coherent manner, ensuring that our presentation has a clear flow and is easily understood by the audience. A solid mental structure also allows us to stay on topic, avoid deviations and maintain focus on the key points we want to convey.

Identifying the objective of the presentation: Before we start designing our mental structure, it is important to clearly identify the objective of our presentation. What do we want to achieve with our speech? What is the main message we want to convey? By being clear about our objective, we can design a structure that supports and reinforces that purpose, keeping our speech focused and centered.

Organization of main and secondary ideas: Once we are clear about our objective, it is time to organize our ideas into main and secondary categories. Main ideas are the key points we want to convey and develop in our presentation, while secondary ideas are the arguments or examples that support and reinforce those main ideas. Organizing our ideas in this way allows us to have a clear vision of the overall structure of our speech.

Designing a powerful introduction: A powerful introduction is fundamental to capture the audience's attention from the beginning of our presentation. In this part, we can use a story, a surprising statistic, a rhetorical question or any other technique that generates interest and curiosity in the listeners. Designing a solid introduction helps us set the tone of our presentation and create an initial connection with the audience.

Developing key points: After the introduction, we focus on developing each of the key points we have previously identified. It is important to dedicate a paragraph or section to each point and make sure to provide examples, evidence or solid arguments to support our claims. Using clear transitions between each point helps us to maintain fluidity and coherence in our presentation.

Visual aids, such as slides or visual aids, can be powerful tools to support our mental structure and help the audience better visualize our ideas. However, it is important to use them in a complementary way and not as a distraction. Designing clear and concise slides, with key points and re