Do you ramble on and have trouble getting your message across? Use these 3 tools to stay on track and get to the point next time you speak in public.
Maybe you’ve found yourself in a meeting listening to somebody talk and they're going on and on and on, and you find yourself thinking,
"What point is this person trying to make? I have no idea…”
That's a really frustrating moment. We don't want to be in that meeting and we definitely don't want to be that speaker.
My public speaking coaching clients ask me all the time:
How can I stop rambling and get to the point?
By the end of this article, you’ll know how to use a simple framework to be clear and concise, even when you’re speaking off the cuff.
The framework we're going to learn is PREP:
Point
Reason
Example
Point
Let me give you an example of how it works and then we'll break down each of those steps.
If you asked me, "Hey Jennifer, what's one of the most important skills a public speaker needs to master?" and I used PREP to answer, it would sound something like this:
Point: One of the most important skills that a speaker needs to master is eye contact…
Reason: ...because that's really the source of your connection, your credibility and your confidence when you're in front of a group.
Example: Now here's the problem with eye contact. Speakers often spray their eye contact around the room like a sprinkler.
What you want to do instead is land your eyes with individual people in the room for three to five seconds each, or about the length of a thought.
Here's how that's better. One, it's going to help you connect with your audience by drawing them into the conversation.
Two, it’s going to help with your credibility. Think about things we say in English like, "I don't know if I can trust her, she wouldn't look me in the eye."
So if we want people to listen, we have to look them in the eye.
It’s also going to be a source of confidence for you.
What’s funny is that looking people in the eye can often make you less nervous as a speaker. Suddenly, instead of being an anonymous mass of people, your talk becomes a series of one-on-one conversations, talking to a single person at a time.
Point: Of all the skills that you can master as a public speaker, make sure you focus on eye contact.
So that's PREP: Point, Reason, Example (the E can also stand for elaboration), and Point. The point you end with is the same one you started with.
PREP makes you a stronger public speaker in several ways.
First, it forces you to put your point and your reason up front. You will never again be that person in a meeting who's rambling on and on and leaving everybody wondering, "What is she trying to say?"
When you put your point and reason first, people understand the argument you’re making and they’re more likely to tune in and listen to your examples, your data, your user studies or research.
That final Point is also really important because it breaks you out of the infinite loop that people sometimes get stuck in when they’re speaking off the cuff.
Instead of repeating yourself over and over, PREP shows you how to stop talking so you’ll avoid rambling and get to the point.
Now here's a really important pitfall to avoid with PREP:
Don’t give up too early.
What happens is: You have a baseline of how you're answering questions right now. Then a public speaking coach like me comes along and teaches you a new skill like PREP, and sometimes things feel harder rather than easier at first.
I had a client who was a golfer who put it to me like this:
"It’s like when a golf pro comes along and tweaks your grip or changes your swing. Instead of instantly getting better, for a little bit, you get worse. There's this performance dip while you're internalizing the new skill.”
I like to call that performance dip the muddy middle.
This will probably happen to you with PREP.
At first, you try PREP and speaking up actually feels harder for a little while.
But keep going through the muddy middle because the more effective “new normal” is on the other side.
If you want to stop rambling and get to the point, practice PREP out loud repeatedly. Make yourself a list of common questions related to your work and practice PREP a few times each day to get the hang of it.
Once you’ve internalized PREP and made it your standard way of answering questions, you’ll be more clear, concise, and confident when you speak up in meetings.
I hope you’ll give PREP a try and leave a comment below to let me know what you think!
P.S. Want to boost your leadership quotient and learn to speak up more quickly and confidently at work?
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