Preparation of a speech for a meeting

It is sometime difficult to be awake during a meeting or in front of the television because the speaker is not “brilliant”. The same fact can happen in the laboratory meeting.

It is necessary, to avoid this risk, to prepare a speech according to some simple rules.

The meeting could be international, national, local, school, etc. but the basics are always the same.

The goal is to avoid confusion, misunderstanding, and sleeping of the listeners.

Cicerone in“De invenzione oratoria” gave the following suggestions for a speech:

1. Inventio – Find interesting ideas and subjects
2. Dispositio – Give them a logic order
3. Elocutio – Choose the words and expressions more efficacy
4. Actio – Train yourself to present the speech in an interesting way
5. Memoria – Use the memory for a clear and good acting

The “Business Writer’s Handbook” suggests:
1. Preparation
2. Research
3. Organization
4. Draft
5. Revision

Beppe Severgnini in his book “L’Italiano. Lezioni semiserie” 2007 (Rizzoli Editore) on page 103 suggests the P.O.R.C.O. rule:
1. P – Pensa = Think  on what you would like to say, before to write
2. O – Organizza = Organize Identify the points to evidence
3. R – Rigurgita = Regurgitate Throw away, without limitation, what that you think it is not necessary
4. C – Correggi = Correct Reread the text at least twice
5. O – Ometti = Leave out Eliminate what it is not indispensable