How to prepare and memorize a speech Awesome, you've been assigned to speak! Ideally, you will have at least 3 weeks to prepare. Taking a 3 weeks prep time as a sample, this is how to use my speech prep formula: Week 1 Review speech objectives in the manual – this will influence the topic you choose. Once you have your topic, you'll need to focus in on a single facet and consider what message you want to convey. Ideate and hone your message and then start typing out your speech -- keeping within your speech timeframe. Typical speech lengths are 4-6 mins, 5-7 mins, 7-9 minutes. Target the middle minute – for example, for a 4-6 minute speech, target for the 5 minute mark. Target for 4 and you may risk ending too early or not developing your message enough. Target for 6 and you might go over. A logical breakout of that 5 minutes is: 1 minute intro, 3 minute body, 1 minute conclusion. For reference, a minute translated to word count is roughly 100 typed words ...
