Tonight I have been reading Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan .
I first signed up for public speaking classes when I was about 7 or 8 years old, and have been continuously involved in some form of public speaking ever since. I have never encountered such a simple a brilliant tip for preparing your notes in a way that allows you to speak in a conversational, natural, improvised way while also ensuring that you don't leave out vital information. After all, isn't scripted the opposite of improvised?
The idea is this: write your notes as a series of short questions that you must answer while giving your speech or presentation. Make the questions as big or small as you need, and after you finish answering one question, you just go on to the next! Absolutely brilliant.