Structuring Speeches That Stick

The Speech Nobody Remembers

A manager gave a twenty-minute talk with twelve key points. Each point was valid. The data was solid. The slides were professional. Afterward, the audience couldn’t recall a single one.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll know how to structure any speech so the audience remembers your message long after you stop talking.

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, we covered three pillars of anxiety management. Can you recall them? (Preparation, reframing, and graduated exposure.) Those pillars work partly because of structure—knowing what comes next reduces uncertainty. Today we apply that same principle to your speech itself.

The Rule of Three

The human brain is wired for threes. Three little pigs. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Location, location, location. This isn’t coincidence—it’s cognitive science.

Working memory holds three to four items comfortably. When you give an audience three main points, they can track all three. When you give them seven, they track none.

Every speech you give should have exactly three main points. If you have more, group them under three headings. If you have fewer, your speech probably isn’t long enough to warrant a presentation.

My speech topic: [topic]
My audience: [who]
My goal: [what I want them to do/think/feel]

I have these ideas I want to include:
[list all your ideas]

Group these into exactly 3 main points. For each:
1. A clear one-sentence statement
2. The strongest piece of evidence or example
3. Why this matters to this specific audience

Cut anything that doesn't fit into these 3 points.

✅ Quick Check: If you have six important ideas for a speech, what should you do? Why?

Framework 1: Problem-Solution-Benefit

This is the most versatile speech framework. It works for pitches, proposals, updates, and persuasive talks of any kind.

Problem: Describe a pain the audience recognizes. Make them nod. Solution: Present your idea, recommendation, or approach. Benefit: Show specifically what improves when they adopt your solution.

Example:

• Problem: “Our team spends 14 hours a week in meetings, but only 3 of those hours produce decisions. The rest is status updates that could be emails.”
• Solution: “I propose we cut recurring meetings by 60%, replace status updates with async reports, and reserve meetings for decisions only.”
• Benefit: “Each team member gets back 8 hours per week. That’s a full workday. Imagine what your team could build with an extra day every week.”

The power of this framework is the benefit section. Most speakers stop at the solution. But the benefit is what motivates action.

Framework 2: Chronological Narrative

When your content naturally follows a timeline, use chronological structure: Past-Present-Future.

Past: Where we were. What we tried. What happened. Present: Where we are now. What’s working. What isn’t. Future: Where we’re going. What we need to do. What success looks like.

This works beautifully for project updates, company visions, and retrospectives.

Example:

• Past: “Six months ago, our customer churn was 12% monthly. We tried discounts, loyalty programs, and new features.”
• Present: “After implementing proactive support, churn dropped to 4%. But we’re still losing enterprise clients specifically.”
• Future: “I’m proposing a dedicated enterprise success team. Based on our data, this could cut enterprise churn in half within 90 days.”

Framework 3: What-So What-Now What

The simplest framework, and often the most effective for short talks.

What: State the fact, finding, or situation. So What: Explain why it matters to this audience. Now What: Tell them what to do about it.

Help me structure a speech using What-So What-Now What:

WHAT (the situation):
[describe what happened or what you found]

Audience: [who they are]

For each section, write:
1. What: State the key fact in 1-2 sentences
2. So What: Explain the impact on THIS audience
   in 2-3 sentences
3. Now What: Give a specific, actionable next step

✅ Quick Check: Which framework would you use for a project update to stakeholders? Why?

The Opening: Hook Them in 30 Seconds

Your opening determines whether the audience leans in or checks out. Every effective opening creates a knowledge gap—a question the audience needs answered.

Five proven openers:

1. The startling statistic. “The average person spends 2.5 years of their life in meetings. Most of that time is wasted.”
2. The direct question. “When was the last time you left a meeting and thought, ‘I’m glad I was there’?”
3. The short story. “Last month, I watched our best engineer quit. In the exit interview, he said one word: ‘meetings.’”
4. The bold claim. “Half the meetings in your calendar this week don’t need to exist. I’ll prove it.”
5. The surprising contrast. “Our competitors make the same product with a third of the meetings. Here’s how.”

Never open with: “Hi, my name is…” or “Today I’m going to talk about…” or “Let me start by apologizing for…”

The Closing: Land the Plane

A speech without a strong close is like a joke without a punchline. Your audience remembers the last thing they hear disproportionately—psychologists call this the recency effect.

Three components of a strong close:

1. Summarize. Restate your three main points in one sentence each.
2. Callback. Reference your opening. If you opened with a statistic, return to it. If you told a story, finish it.
3. Call to action. Tell the audience exactly what to do next. Be specific: “Send me your top three meeting frustrations by Friday” is better than “Think about this.”

Try It Yourself

Pick a topic you care about. Use AI to build a complete speech structure:

Topic: [your topic]
Audience: [who]
Duration: [how long]
Goal: [what you want them to think/feel/do]

Build a complete speech structure:
1. Opening: Use the [startling stat / question / story /
   bold claim / contrast] technique
2. Three main points using Problem-Solution-Benefit
3. Closing with summary, callback, and call to action

Write transitions between each section.

Read the structure aloud. Does it flow? Does each section connect naturally to the next?

Key Takeaways

• Limit every speech to three main points—the brain can’t retain more
• Problem-Solution-Benefit is the most versatile framework for persuasive speaking
• Chronological (Past-Present-Future) works best for updates and narratives
• What-So What-Now What is ideal for short, high-impact talks
• Strong openings create knowledge gaps; strong closings drive action
• Always end with a specific call to action, never “any questions?”

Up Next

In Lesson 4: Vocal Delivery and Pacing, we’ll master the instrument you’ve been neglecting: your voice. Pace, pauses, volume, and tone change everything.