How to structure your talk?

Jayanthi Shivakumar, Head of Learning at EnglishCoach Services

Structuring your talk can not only help you determine how your key points are organised but can also save you from a disastrous distraction or losing your place while delivering your big speech. A well-defined structure will ensure your audience follows the topic with ease and help you remember all the points as well.

So, how do you structure your talk?

Begin with an introduction to the topic. Greet your audience and set the context of the talk. You could ask them a question to get them involved in the topic.

Next, you need to construct the body of your topic. Before you get into the main content, tell your listeners the ideas you’ll be discussing, or the questions you’ll be answering. Once they’re introduced to the key ideas, explain each in detail.

The final step is making an impactful conclusion. This is an important step as it’s what you leave your listeners with. Never make new revelations or introduce new ideas in the conclusion, but always pick the most important information or detail from your talk and reiterate it. You could also close the conversation/talk by stating the follow-up action that is either due from you or the listener.

TIP: Here are some phrases to use.

Introduction:  

Today, I’ll be speaking about

I’m here to talk about…

Let me draw your attention to…

I have a quick question for all of you…

Body:    

I’ll be discussing three main ideas…

Let’s get straight to answering the question…

As we just saw/heard…

Conclusion:     

Finally, I’d like to remind us that…

In conclusion, I want to say…

It is important to remember…

In closing, I would like to share the follow-up that’s needed…

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