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Presentation Buddy
Guide · 1 min read

Speech Templates & Frameworks

Six working skeletons — narrative, persuasive, intros, data, hard conversations and Q&A.

Templates get a bad reputation from people who use them as scripts. Used properly, a template is scaffolding: it carries the load while your own material goes in, and it comes down when the building stands. These six frameworks exist because the same six situations keep recurring, and each has a shape that reliably works.

The six, in one line each

And/But/Therefore keeps a story moving because every beat changes direction. Problem → Proof → Ask persuades without pressure. The 90-second introduction trades your biography for one useful fact about you. One Number, Three Passes makes data memorable. The Hard Conversation sequence keeps feedback specific and kind. Handling Any Question turns Q&A from an ambush into a format you control.

How to use them

Pick the skeleton that matches your situation, fill every bracket with your own concrete detail, then read it aloud twice and cut a third. The template holds the shape; only you can hold the specifics.

The working checklist

  1. Choose the framework by situation, not by preference.
  2. Fill every bracket with checkable, yours-only detail.
  3. Cut a third after the first read-aloud. Always a third.
  4. Keep the skeleton invisible; let the specifics carry it.
  5. Rehearse the shape until you can improvise inside it.

Read it in practice

6 full examples from the library — free to read, save and adapt.

Templates · Narrative talksTemplate: And, But, ThereforeA three-beat story engine you can use for any talk, from a toast to a TED stage.Templates · Persuasive talksTemplate: Problem → Proof → AskThe most reliable persuasive structure in the language, with prompts in every slot.Templates · Introductions & networkingTemplate: The 90-Second IntroductionA repeatable self-introduction that makes people ask a follow-up question instead of nodding politely.Templates · Data & report talksTemplate: One Number, Three PassesHow to present a number so it changes a decision instead of decorating a slide.Templates · Feedback & conflictTemplate: The Hard ConversationA structure for saying the difficult thing clearly, without making the other person defend themselves.Templates · Q&A and panelsTemplate: Handling Any QuestionFour response shapes that cover every question you will ever be asked, including the hostile ones.

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Put it to work

Take one of these into the rehearsal room — teleprompter, pacing timer and breathing cues are built in, free.

Rehearse a talk