We’ve all experienced it. You just started your speech or presentation, and as dozens of eyes stare at you in curious expectation, your mind goes blank. All of your research and rehearsal vanishes in the blink of their eyes. As you retreat to your slides, your cue cards or laptop, you feel the curiosity and attentiveness of the moment sink into disappointment and impatience.
We’ve all had rough introductions and struggled to regain momentum. Even worse, after settling into a presentation we may forget a key point and its place in the outline. I’ve had slides with very little information come up, and then forgotten exactly why it was included.
These are all consequences of strictly worded and unforgiving outlines. While some of these problems could be addressed with a teleprompter, most of us don’t have the luxury of setting up that equipment at work, in a sales meeting, or in class.
Of course, personal speaking styles vary. And the topic of your speech may require rigid definitions. But when possible, rehearsing your presentations in a more fluid, conversational way can improve your comfort level in front of others.
One approach to accomplishing this is called The Chunking Technique. The Chunking Technique is a memory-enhancing strategy for public speaking with roots in conversational storytelling. Rehearsing and presenting using chunking can result in less stress, easier recall, and clearer delivery. It’s a great way to approach 10-15 minute speeches and presentations.
What Is the Chunking Technique?
Chunking is way of separating larger amounts of information by “chunking” them into simpler groups or categories.
And you see chunking everyday. For instance, what number is easier to read off to another person? 6,195,554,236 or 619-555-4236? Yes, chunking is used in our telephone numbers to help us remember and recall them. You might use chunking in your daily schedule by breaking it into morning, afternoon, and evening. When language learning, you might break your vocabulary lists into verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
In public speaking, your outline can be divided into “chunks” based on the content or structure. For instance, a sales presentation might break the outline into the well-known Awareness–Interest–Desire–Action (AIDA) structure.
- Awareness: “Our top-of-the-line Acme 4k Superwidget does everything the 3k widget does, but it’s super because”…..explain all of the relevant product details, who it’s for, and why it exists.
- Interest: The next chunk would expand on why the customer should care, how they benefit from it, and how it improves their lives.
- Desire: This is when the want and opportunity is presented – customer reviews, discounts, positive market data, etc.
- Action: The sell – how the potential customer can get their hands on the Superwidget, and why they have very little time to do so.
Or maybe you’re more of a visual person, and you want to commit your outline to your visual imagination. You might imagine a 3-color traffic light for a Pain, Agitate, Solution structure.
- Red light – Pain: Perhaps your presentation is to highlight a pain point or problem that your service, customers, or brand is facing. Visualizing a red light in your mind is your cue to explain the problem.
- Yellow light – Agitate: Then you expand on the issue, share specific examples or sales numbers, and discuss the consequences of not addressing the issue. Imagining the light switching to yellow is your cue to switch to that chunk.
- Green light – Solution: Now that you’ve introduced and examined the issue in some depth, your audience is primed to hear the proposed solution that your team has dreamed up, along with the action steps to begin delivering the solution.
While these two examples might seem like sales copy gimmicks, the point is to highlight how chunking works. You can create any topical, visual, or mnemonic chunks that work for your outline. The goal is to create a structure that breaks the information into manageable and related chunks. You then use this in rehearsal and thereby reduce your need for detailed notes when you present.
What about chunks that contain detailed statistics, specific quotes, or technical information? Any complex information or specific wording should be well-rehearsed. Additionally, the Roman Room or Journey Methods can be included in your chunks to support specific details.
Why Chunking Works for Speeches
Chunking is a great way to reduce cognitive load, and helps to improve recall under pressure. There’s no need to worry about all of the parts of the speech at once. You simply focus on one chunk at a time.
One outline might look like this:
- Introduction
- Red Light
- Yellow Light
- Green Light
- Conclusion
Of course, your original notes might have tons of information under each bullet point. But as you rehearse, you can slowly remove and simplify your notes until you only need cues to remind yourself which chunk you’re in.
Another benefit is that thematic chunks can make speeches more coherent and engaging to the audience. If your chunks follow a logical progression, the audience can easily follow each section like reading the different headings of this article.
How to Apply the Chunking Technique
Step 1: Identify Key Themes
It’s always best to do your research before creating your outline, as we explain in our How to Create an Outline course. Depending on your topic, that may take 20 minutes, or it may take hours. In either case, it’s important to understand what your thesis is and what you’re trying to accomplish. Once you understand your goal, it will be easier to put the outline into chunks that will help you accomplish that goal.
Step 2: Create Cues
Depending on your slides and preference, you can then assign cues to each chunk. Like the Stoplight simile, it can be an mental image cue. You might also assign a different chunk to each finger on one hand, and tap each finger as you begin each chunk. You might use an acronym like AIDA mentioned above.
Do you need to persuade your audience to a new way of thinking or workflow? A persuasive speech might have chunks for “Before,” “After,” and “Bridge” (where bridge is the solution, new workflow, or thinking).
If you need to share updated knowledge or operating procedures, the chunks might be “concept,” “process,” and “events.”
Whatever method you use, it’s important to rehearse repeatedly to familiarize yourself with moving through the chunks. As you do so, you will be able to reduce your notes as you become more familiar with each individual section.
Step 3: Link Chunks with Transitions
Use verbal cues to create smooth transitions between chunks to help your audience follow along with your presentation. For example, if you used AIDA above, at the end of the first cue, Awareness, you might say; “That’s why I want to bring more Awareness to the 4k Superwidget, so that people can see how it will benefit their lives. For example…” and you continue into the Interest cue.
Step 4: Practice, Practice, Practice
Rehearse by mentally walking through your cues and chunks conversationally, out loud, and not with rote memorization. If there is specific data that needs to be included in a chunk that you worry about forgetting, create extra visual or mnemonic tools that will support it within that chunk.
Tips for Success
Keep chunks short (2-3 minutes each) to maintain audience attention.
Use personal or emotional cues for stronger recall. Integrate colors and strong imagery if that works for you.
Adjust or change your chunks in rehearsal if you find that it’s not helping you hit the goal of your presentation.
Conclusion
Editing your short presentations into 3 or 4 chunks can make the assignment feel much more approachable. It allows for easier memorization, more confident delivery, and it reduces cognitive load.
Using the chunking method doesn’t mean that you can’t use notes or cue cards to help you recall specific data or important phrasing. It’s simply a tool to help unchain you from the larger outline and focus on the message in each chunk.
With practice, you may find that chunking helps you quickly create impromptu speeches, improve your audience contact, and give off that “natural-born speaker” vibe.
So try chunking for your next short presentation. Come back and let us know in the comments if it worked for you. And share with any of your friends that you think could benefit from this simple technique.
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