What do you say when you have to make your point in two minutes? A community board in Maryland decreed everyone who appeared before it had to limit their remarks to two minutes. That’s not much time for your particular burning issue. And it’s not unusual. In our time-starved age, everyone wants you to make your point as quickly as possible. Interviews on CNN rarely go more than a minute or two. Commercials get Tivo’ed and thus compressed further than their already brief format. And the fashion in books is to write shorter and shorter.
Two minutes is approximately 250 words at normal speaking rates, though, and you can say a surprising amount in 250 words. Here’s a good way to think about it.
First of all, decide what your one-sentence headline is. “Leaf blowers make too much noise and they should be forbidden in our community.” It should take the form of a need or a problem you want to meet or solve.
Then, deliver three supporting points. Point one: “First, I’ve tested them at over 120 decibels. That’s as loud as a plane at the end of a runway. Last I checked, we’re not living near a runway. Should we be subjected to that much noise?’
Point two: ‘Second, they don’t really clean up leaves. They just move them around. Often, that means the neighbor’s yard. So they really just move the problem down the road.”
Point three: “And finally, they’re hazardous. Last year, an employee of a landscaping firm was injured when a leaf-blower blew some leaf matter into his eyes. He couldn’t see, and he tripped over a rock, injuring his leg.”
And then repeat the headline: “So that’s why I believe that leaf blowers should be forbidden in our community.”
And close by asking for the appropriate action your headline and supporting points lead to: “Please join me in banning leaf blowers from the fair town of Quietville. Thank you.”
There you go. Problem solved in two minutes. Provided everyone goes along with you.
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Excellent article! As a Toastmaster who enjoys Table Topics (two-minute impromptu talks) I definitely agree with you that we can say a lot in two minutes – as long as we plan what we say, and how to say it. Other helpful formats (depending on the subject matter and your purpose in speaking) are AIDA (attract Attention, sustain Interest, build Desire, and call to Action), PREP (state your Position, give your Reason, cite an Example, and restate your Position), PPF (Past, Present, and Future), SMG (share a Story, state your Message, and cite the Gain/advantage). I’ll be dropping by this site again soon. All the BEST! Michelle
Great tips, Delivering a speech in two minutes may sound like a daunting task for many people but as long as you are well prepared and make sure that you have planned it out properly in the way that you have outlined then ou will have no troubles at all.