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Speech Writing Tips
May 20th, 2008
Know you’re fundamentals – who is your audience and the purpose of your speech, how much time are you allotted? Your opening and closing should preface and summarize what you are going to say. To capture their attention open with a rhetorical question, a quote, a joke or something shocking. Close with a challenge, a thought provoking statement or a rhetorical question.



Keep the sentence structure short so it is easy to listen to, less than 20 words per sentence. Avoid using jargon the audience may not be familiar with. Organize the speech in a logical fashion. For a community service project a possible format is identify the problem, the steps needed and conclude with the bright future the project will provide.



I start with an outline of the basic concepts I want to communicate and put in my major thoughts accordingly. If there are specific statistics I am using that are difficult to remember I will write those out in my notes.



If you are representing a company keep in mind the brand they want to project and protect. You might consider having the PR office review the presentation. Recently I saw a presentation by a car manufacturer engineer talking about how they were becoming more environmentally friendly. The last slide was terrible, showing a toxic waste area. It left the audience with a terrible message that they created a huge waste site. Her words didn’t match the slide. She should have concluded with a before and after picture, or omitted it all together.



Keep in mind when you are speaking as a representative of the company that you are in fact a representative of the company. Your personal opinions are not to be mentioned, unless you are speaking as an individual rather than as a company representative.



Above all, eliminate the filler words like uh. Listen to yourself. Count the filler words that you use like so or and. Pause when you want to use them. You can train yourself to not say them.

Posted in Small Busines Public Relations Coach™