Organizing Your Talk: One Point Approach

It's not always necessary to have several ponts in your talk.
You may choose to have just one point. This kind of talk can
be very effective. Here are a couple of options for organizing
such a talk.

Option 1:  The Powerful Phrase Approach

(for an inspirational talk)

This kind of a talk utlizes a clever/meaningful phrase.

Many years ago at the annual meeting of National Speakers
Association is heard a speaker who used this approach very
effectively. He was a photographer for National Geographic
magazine who took (as you would expect)
fabulous pictures. His memorable phrase was "Take it all in -
give it all out." I still remember that phrase after many years
because he repeated it over and over througout his talk. His
single point was as follows. There are so many amazing things
to see in this world that we should slow down, take it all
in (or "be inspired") but then don't just keep it to yourself,
share the inspiration with others. He would show a set of
pictures and talk about them - where he took them, what the
experience  was like and what he took in during that photo
shoot. Then he'd challenge us to take it all in and give it
all out.

You may not be a photographer, but you have stories. You can
use those stories,statistics, research findings and so forth
to illustrate your main point, of key phrase. You'll probably
need to have atleast two and maybe three or four stories
that relate to or illustrate your point. After each story hit
the audience again with your key phrase. Each story need to be
different from the others yet must uniquely illustrate your point.

End your talk with your powerful phrase and leavce the audience inspired.

Option 2:  The Powerful Story Approach

(for an inspirational or instructional talk)

This approach utilizes a single story. It could be a story
about you, a Bible story or any other story. It should be
compelling. The first step after selecting the story is to decide
on your main point. What one thing do you want to get across to
your audience? Create a masterful statement expressing that
point - one that catches attention, can easily be remembered,
communicates to the target audience and help make a difference
in their life.

Next, break the story into parts (optimally: 3 to 4 parts).
After each story part talk about how that part fits into
your main point. For example, your main point might be
"Beware! Your sins will find you out." You story might begin
with an "innocent" childhood event which involved your stealing
something from a friend or lying about something. After that part
of the story you might talk about how innocent that seems but that
it was the start of something that would spiral into a major problem
later in life. "Take care of the little things now" would be an
appropriate discussion at this point. Then, continue to the next
part of your story.