Why You Should Not Memorize Your Speech

• 00:04 Should you memorize what you're going to say on a video conference meeting?
• 00:08 No, that never works.
• 00:10 It doesn't work in real life when people are giving speeches and presentations.
• 00:14 It's not going to work on a video conference either too.
• 00:17 Because what happens when non professional actors try to memorize is.
• 00:22 All of a sudden they start to sound like this.
• 00:24 They kind of sound like a robot.
• 00:26 It robs your voice of natural flow.
• 00:30 So, no, don't try to memorise anything.
• 00:33 For important presentations, yes.
• 00:36 As we've talked about, you definitely want to rehearse on video.
• 00:40 But don't memorise, remember,
• 00:42 there's nothing wrong with glancing down at your notes from time to time.
• 00:47 How long should your virtual meeting last?
• 00:51 Well, it's kind of like a meeting in real life, as long as it takes.
• 00:54 But not a minute more, respect the time of everyone you're calling and meeting with.
• 01:00 If you can do the whole thing in five minutes, don't work out an hour.
• 01:03 Don't work out a half an hour.
• 01:05 Use the time you need, but use it effectively.
• 01:10 Let people realize every minute is valuable, it's respected.
• 01:14 And you're not going to waste their time.
• 01:16 Now, there may be times when you have to do a much longer meeting.
• 01:20 Let's say you were scheduled to have a day long conference, an eight hour conference.
• 01:25 And now you can't fly and meet together.
• 01:26 You have to do the whole thing virtually, that's okay.
• 01:30 But critically important to schedule breaks.
• 01:33 I like to schedule breaks at least once every 50 minutes for online meetings.
• 01:39 People need to stretch,
• 01:41 people need to check to see if there's an emergency email.
• 01:44 People need to run to the restroom, get a glass of water.
• 01:48 So give people frequent breaks if you're doing a two,
• 01:52 three, four, eight hour video conference.

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