
the balancing act of structure
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Nine Sections: The meaty bits
Sections are like scenes in a
play, where you begin to see the
characters and topics of the play
coming to life. Sections are sub-
stantial chunks of information
such as stories, games and analo-
gies. Your speech length will
determine how much information goes into each.
Whilst I’d recommend using three themes where possible, your
number of sections is more flexible than the number of themes.
As with themes though, bear in mind that too many sections
will lessen your clarity and impact.
What if . . . I don’t have much time to prepare?
Expert tip: Paul McGee
‘If you don’t have ...