How do I not ramble when giving a public speech?

Many public speakers go off topic or talk about something that is tangentially related to what they are saying, but they know how to bring it back in a way that seems natural. If the content of your speech is cohesive, the execution of it, even if it goes off topic sometimes, will still be effective.

Here are some of the best helpful tips to prevent rambling during your speech:

The Macro/Micro Level Strategy

You need to know what is your macro and micro level strategy for the speech. What I mean by this is that you have to have a macro level goal (a purpose, a meaning) to your speech that you want the audience to walk away from with it, and then have a micro level strategy (examples, personal experiences, stories, jokes, etc.) that help you get to that macro level goal. I believe that if you think of your speeches in this way, you can start to stay on topic more because now you know how everything your saying is interconnected. So for example, let’s say your speech was on “My love for Basketball.” Your macro-level strategy for this speech would be something along the lines of getting the audience to walk away with knowing about how impactful this sport was on you and more broadly how sports impact and bring people together. That’s the message you want them to take away and ultimately be impacted by once you’re done.

This is ESSENTIAL. If you don’t know what your goal is for your speech, you’re not going to be passionate about getting the audience to care about your message and you’re not going to be able to effectively articulate exactly what you want the audience to know about. Now, your micro level strategy could be something along the lines of talking about 3 things: the first time you were introduced to the sport by a friend, the first NBA game you watched, and the first time you joined a basketball league. These 3 things don’t always have to have a common theme like “the first time” theme I’m using, but as long as they are connected to your macro level point, your entire speech will be cohesive.

Bottom line, the better you are at structuring a speech that has arguments within it that link back to the overall goal, the less you will ramble.

Understand how to structure an argument

You need to know how to structure an argument. If you want to be successful in anything, you need to be able to convince people of what you believe in. Being able to form an argument, advocate for it, and defend it against opposition is integral towards being a better public speaker. When you can effectively form an argument, you are better geared towards staying on topic because now you know what your arguing about.

This may seem simple, but most people don’t actually know what the 3 parts to an argument are. They also don’t know how to use those three points to expand on what they believe. Many times people go off topic because they simply don’t know what their argument is, don’t know the next logical part of their argument, or don’t know to structure their message in a way that allows it to come off as an actual argument they are defending. As a result, they end up getting off topic and speak about various things that have nothing to do with their speech. Your speech is an argument.

You are putting forth something and hoping people will believe in it. That means it needs to be articulated, with nuance, in the form of argumentation which will keep it on topic.

Improvise!

You should get better at improvising. One of the most important skills in public speaking is the ability to improvise and think on your feet. There will be many times during a public speech or debate in which you forget exactly what you were supposed to say and how you were supposed to say it, which often leads to then saying random things and getting off topic. If you don’t have a teleprompter in front of you, then you have your brain. You need to be able to train your brain to create analysis, transitions, and content to say on stage that is related or at least tangentially related to your topic without having to stop speaking because you’re finding the words to say.

Finding words to say should become natural in your ability to speak which means you should learn certain tangible skill sets that will help you improvise in the inevitable moments when you forget what to say. If you can improvise effectively, then you can fill in the gaps of your speech with relevant information that is connected to your macro level strategy EVEN IF you never thought about saying it before you went on stage.

It is one of the single most powerful skills in public speaking and I’d highly recommend learning the tangible strategies for how to improvise on stage because you absolutely will need it in different situations.

You shouldn’t actively worry about rambling, but you should keep in mind that you are there to educate/inform/entertain your audience. If you end up rambling and your audience gets annoyed, you significantly reduce your chance to have a strong impact on them. The more speeches, talks, and presentations you give — the better a chance you have to naturally not ramble anymore.

Helpful links for tips I mentioned in this article:

How to structure an argument [claim, warrant, impact]

How to improvise.

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