"I can't memorise a talk." · Compelling Communicators

"I can't memorise a talk."

Pamela Storey told me this within minutes of our first session. She was the chair of Kaivolution, a food rescue nonprofit, and her board had volunteered her for TEDxRuakura. No real public speaking experience. And she was certain memorisation was beyond her.

I smiled. I'd heard this before. From almost every speaker I'd ever coached.

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲. 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.

Pamela put her trust in me and did the work. She was diligent, driven, I think, by the fear of failing on stage. She recorded herself. She drilled chunks. She built rhythm into her words until they became second nature.

On the day, her microphone malfunctioned. We had to restart her talk.

She delivered it flawlessly.

But the real payoff came later. Pamela used to dread networking events. She'd spend hours explaining what food rescue was, one person at a time, over and over. Exhausting.

After her TEDx talk, she changed the game. She'd ask event organisers for 5, 10, or 15 minutes. Then she'd deliver her talk—or a portion of it—to the whole room.

No more endless explaining. People came to 𝘩𝘦𝘳 with ideas of how they could help Kaivolution.

The talk she "couldn't memorise" became her most powerful fundraising tool.

If you've told yourself you can't memorise a talk, you might just be using the wrong approach. It's not about reading words off the screen of your mind. It's about building rhythm, drilling chunks, and letting the words become part of you.

What's something you were convinced you couldn't do—until you found the right process? 😉

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