Speaking with Impact: structure and delivery

01

Purpose, audience and one core message

In simple words

Before this course: Public Speaking (course 9.2). You already know the talk sandwich and how to calm your nerves a little. Now we ask a bigger question before you speak: why am I talking, and who is listening? It is like choosing a gift. You pick it for the person, not for yourself.

Key facts

Before this course: Public Speaking (course 9.2). This course assumes you finished it and goes deeper into structure and delivery.
Toastmasters advises you to decide whether your purpose is to inform, persuade, inspire or educate.
Choose one core message. After your talk, listeners should be able to summarize it in one sentence.
Tailor your talk to the audience. Toastmasters suggests using "we" and "us" more than "I" and "me" to pull listeners in.
Invite involvement (for example a question or a show of hands) at one to three moments, only where it serves your point.
Cut anything that does not support the main point.
Ask before you write: Who is listening? What do they already know? What do I want them to think, feel or do afterward? How much time do I have?

Step by step

Write the topic and the time limit at the top of a page.
Write who is listening and what they already know.
Circle your purpose: inform, persuade, inspire or educate.
Write the one thing you want them to think, feel or do afterward.
Turn it into one sentence: your core message.
Read your core message to someone and ask them to say it back in their own words.
Mark one to three moments where you will involve the audience, such as a question.
Check: another person can repeat your core message in one sentence.

LESSON 01Purpose, audience and one core message

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Most weak talks fail before the first word. The speaker never decided what the talk is for."
[Text on screen: Inform, Persuade, Inspire, Educate] "Pick a purpose. Then write one core message."
[Text on screen: One sentence] "After your talk, can a listener say your message in one sentence? That is the test."
[Host] "Use 'we' and 'us', and involve the audience once or twice. Then cut everything that does not support your message."

Try it now

Pick a talk topic. Write the audience, time limit, purpose and a one-sentence core message. Say the message to a friend and ask them to repeat it back.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Speaking with Impact: structure and delivery" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Purpose, audience and one core message".

What the lesson teaches:
- Before this course: Public Speaking (course 9.2). This course assumes you finished it and goes deeper into structure and delivery.
- Toastmasters advises you to decide whether your purpose is to inform, persuade, inspire or educate.
- Choose one core message. After your talk, listeners should be able to summarize it in one sentence.
- Tailor your talk to the audience. Toastmasters suggests using "we" and "us" more than "I" and "me" to pull listeners in.
- Invite involvement (for example a question or a show of hands) at one to three moments, only where it serves your point.
- Cut anything that does not support the main point.
- Ask before you write: Who is listening? What do they already know? What do I want them to think, feel or do afterward? How much time do I have?

The exercise I'm working on:
Pick a talk topic. Write the audience, time limit, purpose and a one-sentence core message. Say the message to a friend and ask them to repeat it back.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Purpose, audience and one core message" from the course "Speaking with Impact: structure and delivery".

Here's what the lesson says:
Before this course: Public Speaking (course 9.2). You already know the talk sandwich and how to calm your nerves a little. Now we ask a bigger question before you speak: why am I talking, and who is listening? It is like choosing a gift. You pick it for the person, not for yourself.

The activity:
Pick a talk topic. Write the audience, time limit, purpose and a one-sentence core message. Say the message to a friend and ask them to repeat it back.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

Sources

Toastmasters International, how to write and deliver a speech: www.toastmasters.org/resources/public-speaking-tips/How-to-Write-and-D
Toastmasters International, how to build a speech: www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2021/june/how-to-build-a

My notes

I learned this

02