Speaking Without (Or With Fewer) Notes
I’m honored to serve as one of the coaches for Pepperdine’s Compelling Preaching initiative. My role with the initiative has inspired me to use this space to publish a series of articles on preaching. While primarily geared toward preachers, I believe the principles I’ll share in these posts will benefit speakers of all stripes.
I’m often asked how I’m able to preach without notes. Some assume I have a photographic memory. (I don’t.) Others that I have a teleprompter hidden somewhere in the room. (I don’t.)
What I have is a fine-tuned delivery prep routine and over 25 years of practice. I’ll concede that I have been blessed with a better than average memory, but I contend it’s my process that allows me to internalize (not memorize) and deliver sermons without notes.
I am curious about how well my process will work for others and would love to work with a few of you to find out. (Keep reading to the end for an opportunity to be part of this experiment.)
In this post I’m going to share some general principles I believe can help just about anyone decrease their dependence on notes or a manuscript while preaching or delivering others types of presentations.
But first, if you’re a preacher or presenter who wants to speak without (or with less) notes, clarify the reason why.
Is it to impress your audience? Distinguish yourself as a communicator? Give your delivery more impact?
I speak without notes because it allows me to maintain constant eye contact and therefore, better connect with my audience. I also think it enhances my credibility. Delivering a sermon or a speech without notes, and without rambling or getting lost, gives the impression of rigorous preparation and subject mastery.
The downside of speaking without notes is that some will be more impressed with your delivery than your message. A few will be distracted as they try to figure out where you’ve hidden the teleprompter.
By the way, there is nothing wrong with using notes. Some of my favorite communicators rely on notes or glance frequently at their manuscripts. (None of them read directly from their manuscript like it’s a book report though.)
Some messages are best delivered with notes or a manuscript. I always use a manuscript at weddings and funerals, and detailed notes when speaking on a controversial or complicated subject. Especially with controversial subjects, you can’t afford to forget a section or leave out a disclaimer or clarifying statement, which can happen when not using notes. In some situations, using notes can give a topic weightiness, especially if you normally don’t use them.
Now on to the general principles for speaking without (or with fewer) notes.
1a. Give your message a memorable structure. Write it so that each move, section, point or whatever you call them flow naturally from one to the next. If it’s hard to remember what comes next in your message, it may be because it doesn’t fit or is in the wrong sequence.
1b. Turn your message into an image. I use MindMananger to mind-map all of my messages. Linear outlines all look much the same no matter the content, but every mind map is unique. I like MindManager because it allows me to write complete sentences and paragraphs and then arrange them visually.1
2. Write like you talk. Most manuscript sermons are written for the the eye rather than the ear. They’re more literary than oratory. When editing my message, of every sentence I ask myself: Are you going to be able to say this without reading it? Is it too long? Too many hard-to-pronounce polysyllabic words?2 I’ve written sections of sermons that when I go back and read them I think, that’s really good and there is no way I’ll ever remember to say it that way.
3. Internalize rather than memorize. During delivery prep, I don’t try to memorize what I’ve written word for word. I memorize the structure and flow of the message and read (out loud) the ideal words I’ve written several times so they readily come to mind when I’m delivering the message. Sometimes they don’t come to mind and I use whatever words do. Sometimes these words and phrases are better than what I initially wrote.
4. Internalize in chunks. Rather than trying to internalize an entire message in one session, I break it down into smaller chunks, usually at least three, and work on them individually as time allows. I might spend a few moments working on the first chunk on Saturday morning, the second chunk on Saturday afternoon while watching a game, and the final chunk on Saturday night before going to bed.
5. Sleep on it. I find I have much better recall of the material I internalized on Saturday than the material I tried to cram in at 5AM on Sunday. If before I go to bed on Saturday night, I can talk through my message without looking at my notes, I know I’ll wake up on Sunday ready to go. The brain does some of its best work while we sleep.
“It is a curious fact, of which the reason is not obvious, that the interval of a single night will greatly increase the strength of the memory.”—Quintillian, First Century Rhetorician
Bonus Principle: It’s easier to internalize (and listen to) a twenty-three minute sermon than a thirty-seven minute sermon. I will not abandon my quixotic quest to convince my clients to preach shorter sermons!
I’m looking for three people who want to decrease their dependence on notes by employing my detailed process. I’ll give you step-by-step instructions and a strategy for gradually moving away from your notes, without risking absolute humiliation in front of your audience. I’m running this free experiment to see how applicable my process is to others. The “experiment” is now full. Thanks to all who inquired.
I deviate from traditional mind-mapping principles by writing in complete sentences. This allows me to write out the ideal wording for what I want to say. I’ve learned the hard way it’s best to never begin a sentence without knowing how it’s going to end.
Irony intended.
Wade, this is very insightful and interesting. If you ever open the doors again to teach this model, I’d be very interested!
My first introduction to Wade was on a panel at Pepperdine discussing effective/efficient sermon preparation. His insights were greatly appreciated then, and I'm thankful that he continues to share methods that can help communicators better deliver God's message.