How to Avoid Rambling When You’re Nervous About Public Speaking

It can be difficult to travel if you don’t have a GPS in your car or phone. Even if you go in the wrong direction, your navigation system tells you how to get back on track.

But there’s a question that your GPS always needs an answer to:

Where are you going?

Whether you travel or prepare a presentation, without a destination and a plan you could walk in circles.

As Brian Tracy said, “You can’t hit a target that you can’t see.”

1. Begin with the end in mind

Philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.”

Random efforts lead to random results. However, to avoid rambling when speaking and elevate your credibility, begin with the end in mind.

Before you speak, do you have a clear vision of who will be in your audience and what you want them to do, think, and feel?

What is the purpose of your presentation?

To inform?

To inspire?

To persuade?

It’s easier to align your message and talking points when your objectives are clear. Even if you get distracted or veer off course when speaking, you can steer your presentation back on track when you know your destination. And after you present, you can objectively measure your success.

Your audience will fall into one of three categories:

1. They like you or agree with you
2. They are indifferent to you or are indifferent to your
   message
3. They don’t like you or don’t agree with you

Your presentation will be more productive if you focus on reaching people in the first two categories.

Learn more about your audience before you speak. The more you understand about their work environment, how they spend their free time, and what stresses they face, the more relevant you can become. What are their expectations? After you speak, what do you want them to think, feel, or do differently?

Your research may include asking questions of the meeting organizer. For example, what is their ideal outcome? Find out who has presented in the past, as well as what worked and what didn’t. You could also have informal conversations with audience members beforehand, or use surveys.

2. Have a key takeaway

Ask yourself this question:

“What is my talk really about?”

As Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

If you can’t answer this question in 12 words or less, unfortunately, your premise is as clear as mud. If you can’t explain what your talk is about, then how can your audience?

Are you trying to say too much for your audience to understand, remember, and repeat? A confused audience won’t act, so your presentation may not have the desired impact.

Dazzle your audience with your smile and make them laugh with your stories. But your Talking Points and your Supporting Examples must relate back to your Core Message. If your audience doesn’t understand the point of your presentation, nothing will stick.

Create a Memorable Moment and make your message stick. Repeat a catchphrase, visual motif, or signature gesture that stays with your audience.

Answer this question:

“What do I want my audience to remember after my talk?”

As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

3. Follow a presentation outline

To avoid rambling when you’re nervous about public speaking, take five sticky notes and create a presentation outline:

1. On your first sticky note, write a key phrase that describes how the presentation will begin
2. On your next three sticky notes, write a key phrase that represents each talking point 
3. On your last sticky note, write a key phrase that describes how the presentation will conclude.  

When beginning your presentation, consider describing a problem that your audience is experiencing, which you can solve. Making a strong first impression on the audience can leave a lasting memory. 

For each talking point, provide one to three supporting examples. Audiences often remember only up three talking points and supporting examples—this is the Rule of Three.

A GPS requires a destination, and we need to know exactly how our presentation will end.

As we review this outline, we can summarize our presentation on five sticky notes:

1. Impressive Introduction
2. First Talking Point / Supporting Example(s)
3. Second Talking Point / Supporting Example(s)
4. Third Talking Point / Supporting Example(s)
5. Compelling Conclusion

Organize your list of Talking Points so that your first and last points are the most powerful. You should follow the same order of importance for your list of Supporting Examples. Start with your second best point and include your weakest point in the middle. Ensure that your ending leaves a lasting impression.

If possible, try to provide thematic closure for your audience. Tie your conclusion back to the beginning, like drawing a circle. For example, in his famous I Have a Dream speech, Dr. Martin Luther King begins and ends with a reference to his main theme: freedom.

His first sentence was: “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

And closing the loop, Dr. King’s last sentence was: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Your conclusion must remain focused–avoid introducing any new points, especially if they weren’t developed earlier. After you share your closing thoughts, it should be abundantly clear to your audience that this is the end.

As you develop your conclusion, remember that your final words leave a lasting impression. Always End with Excellence.

As Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart said, “To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.”