I want to ask you a question. If you have several topics to cover in a single speech where would you put the most important? First or last? I want you to ponder this question whilst you continue reading this article.

Let's imagine what a complete beginner would do when planning their speech. First they pick the topic. Then they brainstorm ideas for their topic. They look at what they have brainstormed and ranked them from best to worst. Then they put their best one as their first paragraph, then their second best as their second paragraph and so on.

BIG BIG MISTAKE! - But did you pick it up?

Was their mistake made when they selected their topic?

NO!

Was their mistake made when they brainstormed ideas for their topic?

NO!

Was their mistake made when they ranked their ideas from best to worst?

DEFINITELY NOT!

Was their mistake made when they put their best idea first?

YES!

The biggest mistake that newbies make when planning a speech is that they put their best arguments first, and their worst arguments last! What they should be doing is putting their worst arguments first and their best arguments last.

Why?

Think for a moment. Which should be the most important part of a story or a play? The beginning or the ending? If it is the early part, why should any one read on to the end? Why would they stay watching the performance until the end, when they know that the best is over?

So in speeches the importance of topics should always increase as the speech progresses. This, is the most important principle of planning. Arrange your topics in an ascending order of importance. Work up to the climax at the end.

Here is another example. If I listed ten or so items, which one would you most likely remember most? Of course, the last one! So why would you want to present your weakest argument when the audience would remember it? Surely it would make more sense to present your best argument at the time where the audience will remember it?

So what are you supposed to do when you plan a speech? You pick your topic, you brainstorm ideas, you rank them from best to worst, and then you put your worst argument first, followed by your second worst argument, all the way until your best argument at the end.

So, going back to the question that I asked you, did you say first or last? If you said first, don't worry, because 90% of people would have agreed with you. But now that you know where you should put your best arguments, the impact and lasting effect that your speech has with your audience will improve dramatically.