So successful presentation comes down to the hard work of practicing a script. In this video and the next, I'm going to take you through two techniques I have towards practicing. But what is a script? Well, a script can be anything. A script can be a 30 page document that's written out over months, revised by multiple people. A script can be a slide deck that people have presented, and that have all the lines written in. A script can be a napkin that you've written out moments before you have to go on stage. A script can is any piece of writing that allows you to reflect on what you want to say. But the problem with the script, is that it suggests everything is done. It suggests everything is boxed up and all you need to do is recapitulate that script in front of people. There's nothing worse than a statically read script, because scripts are words on paper. They're not words coming out of your mouth. So you have to take those words and transform them into a way that's comfortable for you to speak. Now that's difficult and I'm going to suggest two modes of getting those words from the paper, from the slide screen, into your mouth and back out. The first I'm calling rehearsal, and the second I'm calling reverse outlining. Rehearsal and reverse outlining in my mind they go together. And in fact, you can be at a place where you have plenty of time to rehearse, plenty of time to reverse outline, and then you can dynamically understand your script. But you can also be in a place where all you have time to do is outline and reverse outline, and that can help you as well. The point is you need to own the script. The script is what guides you, and you need to own it. So the best way to rehearse, the best way to rehearse, in my view, is to read the document out loud over and over in front of a mirror. You are your own harshest critic. And by listening to the words coming out of your mouth, you will recognize if the sentences are too long, if the words don't sound like you, or if the words themselves are abstract and complicated and they break down in your mouth and you can't say them. You will recognise those words don't work. And you'll have to edit your script. You will have to figure out where to stop and think, where to breathe, when to breathe in, when to breathe out. When I first started rehearsing, I would strip naked and stand in front of the mirror and read my script to myself. Because that was my bare self and my eyes would judge and my ears will hear together what my body and what my mouth were doing. And to me, that was the moment where I really learned to deliver. So I encourage you, when you rehearse, don't just stand in front of a group of friends. They'll just tell you some nice corrections. Go to a quiet place, stand in front of a mirror, and rehearse. Differentiating the script from your presentation is very important, and I encourage you to revise that script as you rehearse, to make it your own, to take liberties with it as you master it. However, I want to acknowledge at the close of this video, that many times, you will be in a position where you have no choice but to follow exactly the words on the script, and if you deviate, you will be in trouble. In those cases, I still encourage you to rehearse. You don't have the liberty to change the script, but you do have the ability to own it, and that's what I want you to do. In all cases, by rehearsing a script you own it, and you internalize it, and the words become yours. And it is critical, if your audience is going to believe you, that you believe the words you are speaking.
