How to Schedule a Practice Routine for a Presentation in English
Have you got an important presentation in English coming up in the near future?
If there is one thing that determines your success at giving a confident presentation in English, it is your ability to create and implement a practice routine.
Aristotle quoted, “It is frequent repetition that produces a natural tendency.”
When something becomes natural to us, like driving a car, we then begin to feel confident doing it.
Think back to when you passed your driving test. The more practice you had driving, the more confident you became at it. You also spread the lessons out over a period of months, as opposed to crowding in all your lessons in just a few weeks.
Acting on Impulse or Scheduled Practice Routines?
Something I see a lot at first contact with students is that most of them have never had an established practice routine for their English. They act on impulse when studying or practicing for a presentation in English.
Not having an established practice routine normally leads to practicing less than you need to or ‘dysfunctional’ practice. Therefore, your desired result – giving a great presentation in English, will be more difficult to achieve.
One advantage of consciously scheduling your practice routines is that you won’t be acting on impulse. What scheduling does is develop the habit. The habit then does the job for you.
Acting on impulse only slows the process down.
Give it a go… Apply the power of routine and achieve your English goals faster!
How to Schedule a Practice Routine for a Successful Presentation in English
Let’s imagine you have to deliver a presentation in English in one month’s time. Here are 7 simple and effective steps to schedule a practice routine:
Step 1: Choose a Planner Tool
The first thing you need to do is to choose your planner. The main requirement is that it lets you enter data easily and has quick access. Google Calendar and iCloud calendar really work for this.
Step 2: Identify Available Time
Begin by establishing how much time you need to make available to practice your presentation. Is it one hour a day? Two hours? Make sure you are realistic about the time you have available for the practice routine.
Step 3: Define a Time Schedule
Decide at what time and on which days you will be able to practice. A continuous practice routine requires self-discipline (I go deeper into this in my eBook) and sometimes willpower.
For me, willpower is at my strongest in the morning, and then gradually gets weaker throughout the day.
Whichever period of the day you choose, you must be committed to not missing a practice session, therefore think carefully about the time schedule you select.
Do your best to define a consistent routine, for instance, Monday to Friday from 8 am to 9 am, as opposed to 8 am on Monday, 11.30 on Tuesday, 6 pm on Wednesday etc
Step 4: Close off the Schedule in Your Planner
Once decided, close off the schedule in your planner and do your best not to sacrifice the practice routine.
Step 5: Schedule a Contingency Time
Since we live in an unpredictable world, it is inevitable that emergencies and interruptions come up, meaning you will sometimes have to cancel your practice routine. In anticipation of this, it is a good idea to schedule a contingency time.
Let’s say your fixed schedule is from 8 am to 9 am. Your contingency time could be scheduled from 6 pm to 7 pm when you finish work.
Step 6: Break down Your Goal into Baby Steps
Continuing with the example of having to deliver a work presentation in 1 month’s time, there could be sections within the presentation which you can break down and practice separately.
Let’s imagine you have to practice your speech. Below are sections of an example presentation. Each week is dedicated to certain sections, whereas the fourth week focuses on practicing the presentation as a whole:
Week 1
Introduction and Outline
2016 Achievements
2016 Financial Results
Week 2
Outline of 2017 Goals
Goal 1: Strategy, Tactics, and Challenges
Goal 2: Strategy, Tactics, and Challenges
Week 3
Goal 3: Strategy, Tactics, and Challenges
Conclusion
Week 4
This week is dedicated to practicing the full presentation.
Step 7: Introduce ‘Spaced Repetition’ into Your Routine
We tend to remember things more effectively if we spread reviews over time, as opposed to studying it all at once. For this, I recommend the SRS (Spaced Repetition System).
The SRS is a flashcard APP which you can use on your computer or mobile device. It automatically reviews more vocabulary you have difficulty remembering, and reviews less vocabulary you find easier remembering.
For instance, you might see a word a few minutes after the first time, then a few days later, then a few weeks later etc., making it less likely to forget vocabulary.
Essentially, the SRS method helps you learn the language quicker and saves time in the process.
It’s good for retaining new vocabulary and structures which you pick up during the time of writing your speech for a presentation. You can also use the method to review important, complex phrases which you have to get right during your presentation.
The 2 SRS apps which I recommend are ANKI and Flashcard Deluxe.
Both are flashcard software designed to take away the task of remembering when to review your vocabulary. You can download the app on your smartphone.
Ideally, you would set aside 5 to 10 minutes at the end of your daily practice routine to review new vocabulary and structures.
I also recommend using SRS to review the parts of your speech which you have already practiced.
For example, in Week 2 of your practice routine in Step 6, begin each day with one run-through of what you covered in Week 1. This way you will be reviewing Week 1’s content at the same time as you are learning week 2’s content.
You could do the same thing in Week 3, by running through the content once in Week 1 and Week 2 at the beginning of each practice day, before going on to focus on the content for Week 3.
Conclusion
Remember what Aristotle said about frequent repetition and natural tendency?
When you next drive your car, take a few seconds to compare how confident you are driving now, with when you first started your driving lessons.
Well, the same kind of progress can be made with your English by using the same basic strategy: by scheduling a practice routine.
Just start by opening your calendar and close off a time in the day when you can commit to your English goals. Then follow the rest of the steps mentioned above, and watch the power of repetition unfold!
If you are interested in improving your confidence at speaking English for work situations, such as meetings, presentations, and interviews, take advantage of the limited discount rate for my ebook, “How to Become a Confident English Speaker at Work – For Non-native intermediate to advanced English speaking professionals”.
*This post is an edited extract from “How to Become a Confident English Speaker at Work – For Non-native Intermediate to advanced English speaking professionals.” By Steven Hobson.
