As children we were taught to organise our thoughts in a “linear” fashion - line by line, left to right, top to bottom on the page. You may have even learned how to prepare speeches that way - either writing them out word for word or writing outlines with the main points and so on. We either try to memorise the speech or to use memorising principles known as mnemonics during the presentation. The audience loves spontaneity and it will easily detect a memorized speech. However, as a speaker in a pressured situation your memory may fail. New knowledge has shown that we need only key concepts for recall purposes. Tony Buzan studied the techniques for note-taking and concluded that students using key words learned and remembered more. He developed Mind Maps.

Mind Mapping is a technique for translating key words and images; producing a growing and organized structure will help to:

● put your ideas down on paper quickly

● construct a speech out of disorganised thoughts, ideas and fragments of material

● remember your speech more clearly

● reduce - and possibly even eliminate - the use of notes

The basic idea is that instead of writing out your speech in words, you draw it in pictures. So a Mind Map is a picture of your speech.

Here’s a quick overview of how to create a Mind Map:

● Start with a blank piece of paper and a set of coloured pens.

● Draw your speech topic in the middle of the paper.

● Draw lines radiating out from it - one for the introduction, one for the conclusion, and one for each main point.

● Annotate each line with a symbol, cartoon, stick figure or some other picture to identify the point. If you can’t think of a picture, label the line with a word.

● If you have sub-points, draw other lines branching out from your main points and repeat the process.

Don’t get too bogged down with your Mind Maps. They are for you to organise your thoughts.

When you present your speech, take the Mind Map and use it in place of notes. You’ll discover that it’s much easier to visualise a Mind Map than to memorise written notes.

Mind Mapping has more applications than just writing speeches – note-taking, summarizing a book and planning your week. It’s a simple, powerful tool. Try it - it works.