How to Write a Speech

As you hang up the telephone, the icy fingertips of panic grip your stomach; your heart races. Your most recent project was delivered on time, within budget, and is approaching payback one year ahead of schedule. As a result, your Industry Association wants you to address their annual convention. Relax! They believe you have something to offer. Here are some steps to ease your palpitations. A good reader is most likely to be a good writer and speaker. Read as much as you can. Stay abreast with the happenings around.


Writing Your Own Speech

1. Remember that all great speeches, and even some not so great, require "shape". The old saying is hard to beat: "Tell them what you will tell them; tell them; then tell them what you told them."
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4. Prepare to persuade your audience by your credibility (ethos), the emotions (pathos) and logic (logos). Reasoning supports your points, so they may be accepted. Word choice affects the logical response of your audience, as well as their emotional response and so, enhances your communication. Giving your best reasons forms the essence of your point of view, and can hardly be emphasized enough. Substantiate (prove or confirm) your point of view (your thesis).
5. Use appropriate verbiage for transparency and clarity -- but not like a multisyllabic "vocabulary test" that causes you to lose your connection with your audience.
6. Stay away from too much detailed information; don't try to teach a complex subject in one easy lesson.
7. Avoid obscure (hard to explain) topics that few know or care to learn about in a few minutes.
8. Choose a good subject, research it, make sense... In school don't write a report on how to write a speech (show me; don't tell me) write the speech.
9. Use correct punctuation, spelling, tone (avoid sarcasm)... do proofreading, fixing errors, all things to do right to get a "Good job, good job!" (good grade on your speech).
10. "Shake hands" (figuratively) with members of your audience by "grabbing" their attention somehow. Build agreement and rapport (acceptance) for your topic. If you have something worthy of hearing, it's worth saying well. Former Ambassador Robert Strauss used to begin his addresses like this: "Before I begin this speech, I have something to say." This passage was always composed in a style that enabled him to reclaim a powerful tone for the instructive portion of his remarks. Wear your sincere smile; breathe deeply but slowly to calm your nerves, then get to work. You may want to begin with an amusing one-liner or amazing anecdote that can be connected to the situation.
11. Rise to your occasion. In other words, feel passionately about your topic. Recall old Uncle Ned's tear jerking toast at the wedding -- to realize how ordinary folks, like you, can deliver those kinds of great moments of oratory (appropriately done) -- when they rise to their occasion. Make sure the audience feels with your well chosen words how important the topic is to you, so that they begin to think about why they should care about that.
12. Build clear and sensible transitions (segues [seg-ways]) from one thought to the next. The biggest mistake speakers and writers make is to assume people will follow leaps of logic. Spell out to the audience when you are taking a turn in your thoughts with phrases like:
13. "As an example of this" or "This brings us to the larger problem of," and so forth.
14. Focus on one angle: avoid rambling (not telling every possible side) or going on about "nothing to speak of". Stay on topic... But, a "great" speech does not need to start out great and stay great to the finish. But, engage the listeners early (nice humor helps the audience to listen). Make allowances for a dip in interest in the middle. Then, spark interest again to build to a point, gather anticipation for the key moment (your point). John Stuart Mill, the political economist, defined the orator's art this way: "Everything important to his purpose was said at the exact moment when he had brought the minds of his audience into the state most fitted to receive it."
15. Choose a clear purpose. A speech should be made for a good reason. To inspire, to instruct, to rally support, or to lead to action are noble purposes. To merely sound off (inappropriately), to feed a speaker's ego, to flatter, to intimidate, or to shame are not. You may wish to research "common logical fallacies" to avoid them in your speaking (rhetoric).
16. 10Know your theme. If you cannot answer the question "what do you want to say?" in a single, declarative sentence, do yourself and the audience a favor: decline the invitation.
17. Write with one particular person in mind, someone you actually know. This helps you to keep the message real and personable. This helps you anticipate reactions and keep your language down to earth.
18. Deliver your points with the essence of eloquence (simply and clearly). Practice, discipline yourself by drill, and timing. You can be your own trainer. As you develop self-confidence, you put the audience at ease, or make them sit up. Your eye is in contact with the people, not the page. If looking at people makes you nervous, look between them, at the clock on the back wall, over somebody's shoulder - as long as it seems you're making eye-contact. Your professional passion is contagious. Use gestures to emphasize points, and make sure your tone of voice and facial expressions are appropriate for the topic.
19. Illustrate: in the form of slides, visuals, stories, jokes, or dramatic gestures. Your goal is to make some portion of the speech stick to the mind of the audience. If someone asks about it afterwards, they should say something like, "I enjoyed the story Tom told about his sister," or "The pie chart of this year's earnings was helpful."
20. Give your audience a sense of completion. Bring them back to the beginning, but with a louder spirit. This can be done by starting the last paragraph with a strong, declarative sentence that makes your point.
21. When talking steadily, reaching serious topics, remember to get very quiet (pause) and people will automatically take notice, like looking up and being more attentive to what is happening.

METHOD 2

1. Introduction. Opening with a statement that will grab the attention of the audience. For instance, "Today, we are entering a new era for our country and its people..."
2. Open with remarks about the subject of the speech. Like, Nelson Mandela made in his speech: "Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa."
3. Use inclusive terms such as -- "our team, our country, our people," etc.
4. Build the body of the speech. It should contain the details of the issue.
5. Direct address in the use of personal pronouns -- "we".
6. There should be repetition of the same comment for effect -- to make the audience recall.
7. End the speech. Conclude with a powerful punchline. And also with simple and short sentences for effect to convey the importance of the message.

Sample Political Speech

Sample Speech Asking for Donations