So you've decided you've got to give a speech. Where do you start? Before you start practicing out loud or videotaping yourself or just writing in writing? I want you to step back for a minute and really ask yourself, what is the desired outcome of your presentation? You're not just speaking for the fun of it, presumably, you're not just speaking to tell people every single thing you've done in the last quarter what you know in a subject, so you've got to really step back this is critical. And ask yourself, what is the desired outcome?

What do I want my audience to do? After listening to me? Until you answer that question, you are frankly wasting your time on creating bullet points or brainstorming or doing more research. So that's the first step. What is the outcome you want from your audience?