Some presentations land with force. Others drift into the room and disappear before the audience stands up. The difference is rarely talent. It’s structure.
Most professionals are not taught how to speak. They are expected to just know how. As a result, they over-explain, under-connect, and miss their moment.
I still remember the first time I stood up to speak in front of a senior audience. I was a newly appointed leader of a regional sales team, and my boss suggested I “just say a few words” to open the session. No slides. No agenda. No warning.
My heart rate spiked before I even reached the front. I cracked a joke that didn’t land. My mouth went dry halfway through. And afterwards, someone kindly said, “You’re better in one-on-ones.” It wasn’t a disaster. But it wasn’t me at my best.
That moment taught me something I’ve never forgotten: you can be confident in your day job, respected by your team, and still feel exposed the second you step into the spotlight.
Public speaking draws a different kind of energy. And without preparation, it can defeat you. I’ve seen it over and over again.
In my many years in corporate, I grew weary of seeing talented people disappear behind their slides. Smart leaders. Great thinkers. Terrible communicators. Not because they lacked skill. Because no one gave them a system that made presenting simple, repeatable, and fun.
And so, I started building a repeatable system – not just for myself, but for anyone who ever felt like their words didn’t land the way they were meant to.
I call it the GoTime Framework, and it’s built on six clear stages. The model borrows from something we all understand: building a house. Because a great presentation, like a great home, needs to be built with purpose and care.
The GoTime Framework didn’t appear fully formed. It came together over years of coaching, presenting, failing, adjusting, and refining. And it’s still evolving. But it’s helped me step up with certainty – not because I’m fearless, but because I have a process.
Why You Need a Speaking Framework
When you build a house, you don’t start with furniture or wallpaper. You start with understanding the land and laying the foundation. Speaking is the same.
Most people begin with slides or ideas. What they miss is the internal preparation, the planning, the emotional strategy, and the structure. A presentation framework gives you the ability to:
- Manage fear and adrenaline
- Design a talk that’s easy to follow
- Speak with clarity and intention
- Use storytelling and language to connect
- Deliver with control and presence
- Review and improve over time
The GoTime Framework helps you build all of that
The Six Stages of Speaking with Impact
Each stage is represented by a role on a building site. You step into these roles, one at a time, as you prepare, design, deliver, and refine your talk.
1. The Land Surveyor: Prepare Yourself, Not Just the Speech
Before you say a word, you prepare the ground. The Land Surveyor represents your internal readiness. It’s the work you do on yourself to manage nerves, understand what’s happening in your brain and body, and shift into a confident speaking state.
This is where you:
- Understand the history and psychology of public speaking
- Learn how the brain responds to threat vs. opportunity
- Use breathwork and visualisation to manage stress
- Reframe fear as energy
- Develop rituals that bring you into your speaking zone
Your voice is never more powerful than when your mind and body are aligned.
2. The Architect: Design with Purpose
Once you’re ready internally, you move to strategy. The Architect is responsible for planning the structure. This means being clear on why you are speaking, who you are speaking to, and what outcome you want to create.
This is where you:
- Define the purpose of your talk
- Understand your audience and what matters to them
- Choose an organisational pattern: chronological, problem-solution, cause-effect, or topical
Good architecture is invisible. The audience should feel clarity without being shown the blueprint.
3. The Builder: Structure the Talk
With the plan in hand, you build. The Builder shapes the structure of the presentation. This is where you design the opening, body, and conclusion.
This is where you:
- Write a strong opening that grabs attention
- Break the body into clear, well-paced sections
- Craft a conclusion that anchors your message
- Use signposts, transitions, and momentum
This is your speech’s skeleton. Every great delivery rests on structure that holds.
4. The Interior Decorator: Style and Emotional Weight
This stage transforms your structure into something memorable. The Interior Decorator brings style, emotion, and story. The audience might understand your message intellectually, but they will remember how it made them feel.
This is where you:
- Use stories that illustrate your points with relatable detail
- Apply rhetorical devices like metaphor, repetition, and contrast
- Choose language that is clear, vivid, and sensory
- Use humour, empathy, and surprise to draw people in
- Trim jargon, filler, and clichés to keep your message clean
- Use visual aids that support, not dominate, your message
Think of this as curating the experience of the room. The right words, stories, and tone create the emotional architecture that connects.
5. The Estate Agent: Deliver with Presence
A good house won’t sell itself. It needs to be presented. The Estate Agent represents your delivery – how you show up in the room, command attention, and keep the audience engaged.
This is where you:
- Use vocal variety to add energy and interest
- Employ body language that is open, grounded, and intentional
- Read the audience and respond in real time
- Use the memory palace (method of loci) technique to walk your audience through your message
A confident delivery makes the difference between content that’s heard and content that’s felt.
6. The Building Inspector: Review, Refine, Improve
The final stage is not an afterthought. The Building Inspector helps you reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and what you can improve. This is where long-term speaking skill is built.
This is where you:
- Ask for targeted feedback from mentors or peers
- Review recordings with a critical eye
- Use checklists to refine structure, clarity, and delivery
- Capture lessons for your next talk
- Upgrade your rituals and preparation over time
Feedback is not a one-off. It’s the loop that makes you better.
Why This Works
The reason this framework is effective is because it’s intuitive. You already understand what it means to build a house. You know it takes planning, structure, finishing, presentation, and inspection. So when you speak, you can access that metaphor to check where you are and what you might be missing.
It also gives you language for coaching others or mentoring your team. You can say, “You’ve built it, but it needs a decorator,” or “You’re skipping the architect stage.”
It’s modular. It’s teachable. It works.
This framework isn’t only for keynote speakers. It’s for sales teams, executives, engineers, educators, and anyone who has ever had to stand in front of a group and explain something that matters.
I’ve used this system in boardrooms with multimillion-rand deals on the line.
I’ve used it in rooms where no one knew my name.
I’ve even used it to plan and deliver my “Father of the Bride” speech.
It’s the same every time. The structure works. The characters keep it simple.
Ready to Speak with Impact?
If you’ve ever said, “I’m not a natural speaker,” this framework is for you. Because speaking isn’t about being natural. It’s about being prepared.
You can:
Download the GoTime Impactful Presentations eBook
Book a team workshop
Start applying the six stages to your next meeting or keynote
Your next talk doesn’t need to be perfect. But it does need to be built. And now, you’ve got the tools – it’s GoTime!
