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Level 1 · Week 3 of 4
The Body
Why This Matters
The evaluator can only score what's on the page, but a gate speech is eventually delivered by a real person in a real room. A manuscript that reads well but was never built with physical delivery in mind often falls flat — the words are right, but nothing in the writing gives you anywhere to move, pause, or breathe.
This Week's Exercise
Go back through your draft and mark three places where a real pause — not a comma, a full stop — would land hardest.
At each pause point, note in the margin what you'd physically do in that silence: step forward, look up, let it sit.
Cut any line that only works if you're gesturing while you say it. If it needs a wave of the hand to make sense, it's not doing its job on the page.
Deliver the speech standing up, out loud, before you submit it. Sitting-down writing and standing-up speaking are different disciplines.
Coach's Note — Bo Eason: Your story doesn't live in your notes. It lives in your body. If you're not willing to feel it while you say it, don't expect anyone else to feel it either.