BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT WHAT IS REALLY INVOLVED IN A 10 MINUTE SPEECH
I recently had the honour to offer the Occasional Address for the School of Economics Graduation at the University of Sydney. And it was an absolute thrill to be part of this exceptionally well run event.
This was a big deal. A high profile client. A live audience and live streamed around the world. And, of course, a milestone occasion for all of the graduating students.
Let me share what’s involved in preparing for an event like this. A small peek behind the scenes.
THE APPROACH
A few months ago I received an email from the External Partner Engagement team at the University of Sydney asking me if I might be interested in participating in this particular graduation, as an accomplished alumni from the School of Economics.
THE AGREEMENT
Once I had reviewed the event information, of course I said yes, because what a privilege to go back to the university where I studied my undergraduate degree. A great opportunity to share some insights to the new graduates, current and future leaders.
THE BRIEF
Once the agreement was in place, there was a briefing call so that I could really understand what it was that was being asked of me. And understand what the objective and desired outcomes of the Occasional Address are, as part of the overall graduation ceremony.
IDEATION
With clarity about the objective, and the context for the address in mind, I began to ideate. For me this was about letting the ideas percolate. Noting my ideas as they came to me and keeping them in a central space. I simply captured ideas as voice notes, and emailed notes to myself as they came to me. This free form brainstorming went on for about 2 weeks in between all the other things I was focused on.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Once I had a good collection of ideas I sat down to start looking at the construction of my speech. This process of framing up the speech is much more intensive and focused. This took me a good couple of days. Not full-time, but on and off during the course of a couple of days until I felt it was really starting to take shape.
PRACTISING THE FLOW
From here I started to practise saying this out loud. To get a sense of the flow and determine whether I had the right stories.
This is the stage where I really considered the language I was using. Right down to specific words.
FINESSING THE LANGUAGE
This is where the refinement really kicked in. Once I start to consistently practise the speech out loud, I really understand what is going to flow well and how words and sentences roll off my tongue. Quite a lot of refinement happened here over a series of days.
From this point, I felt like I had the speech at about the 97% mark.
PRACTISING SOME MORE, AND MORE FINESSING
I started to practise in earnest for about eight days before the event. Practising a number of times each day. Practising individual sections of the speech. Making little refinements, little bits of language. Making words flow more easily and really making sure that the words and the language were relevant to the audience.
In this particular audience, there were both undergraduates graduating, as well as people graduating advanced degrees. So recognising this. Also recognising the livestream audience, as well as the people who would be in the Great Hall.
Lots to consider.
REHEARSING
So, once I had that final version, I spent the remaining 72 hours rehearsing. Perhaps a dozen times each day, so that everything would flow. Ensuring I was very comfortable with the flow, and it made sense, and I could pick up my flow at any point.
Rehearsing involves everything from the point of standing from my seat and walking to the lectern, delivering the speech, and returning to my seat. All the gestures, the pauses. A full rehearsal.
And so these, my friends, were all the phases I worked through to prepare a 10-minute Occasional Address.
If I added up all the time I prepared for this, it was probably two-and-a-half to three days’ work. Perhaps a little bit more.
This is how much activity, effort and time goes into something that is only 10 minutes long, because it is important to get it right.
And I haven’t even mentioned all of the administration components that my team have taken care of. Bios and headshots, tailored speaker introduction, venue coordination, contact details and much more.
Events like this one are substantial, even when the onstage activity itself is of a relatively short duration. In this case just 10 minutes.
What we are all about is the outcome, not just the time spent at the front of the room.
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