I spent 40 hours trying to memorize a five-minute speech once.

And then I skipped an important line!

Memorizing a speech is difficult and time-consuming…

And the number one cause of memory lapses is worrying about memory lapses!

The solution is what I call the suspension bridge method.

Memorizing the words to a speech is like memorizing the recipe to a delicious meal.

How big are your onion slices?

How much wine do you add to the sauce?

When you sear the salmon, how brown or black should it get?

Which skillet should you use?

How much pepper should you add?

Broccoli cooks slowly. How long should you wait before you add those onions?

These questions have little do to with the recipe.

They have more to do with the kitchen performance that produces a delicious meal.

In the same way, parts of your speech go beyond the words on the script—long pauses, deliberate positioning on areas of the stage, shouts, whispers, and facial expressions.

These moments of theater are the “towers” on the suspension bridge of your speech. If you rehearse them fully instead of just trying to memorize the words, you'll find they memorize themselves.

Not only that, you'll find your confidence soaring when you anticipate the impact these bits will have on your audience.

As for the in-between stuff—the spans between the towers—you'll find that after a few practice runs, that material will “settle” and become consistent. Because you know what “tower” you'll deliver next, you'll be less likely to ramble or miss a section.

Add short titles or even icons to those towers and the spans will take care of themselves.

And that's the suspension bridge method.

Focus on the peak parts of your performance and you'll deliver a more impactful speech without stressing out about whether or not you've successfully memorizing that ten-page script.