Writing the perfect speech
There are so many opportunities to give a speech, from weddings to birthdays to company parties. Whether it's a professional or a private setting, never underestimate the work involved in creating a good speech!
Before you get started, consider: What do you want to achieve with it? What will your key message be? And, most importantly, what message are you trying to leave your audience with?
And then there's the setting. Perhaps you're giving your speech at the company anniversary lunch. Who's in the audience? It makes a huge difference whether you're speaking to just your employees or to customers and suppliers as well – form, content, and delivery style will change depending on who's listening.
Even in private celebrations, presentation style will change if it's for a close family circle or a large neighborhood open house. It's important to consider these details even before you start working on your speech – it will definitely help you write!
So, how do you write an effective, memorable speech?
Never write without doing your research
A well-researched speech comes across as confident and entertaining. Putting in that extra effort will draw your audience in and capture their attention. Any interesting or important facts worth mentioning? Anything surprising details, funny anecdotes, or fitting quotes that you could use? What will your audience already know before you start to speak, and what should you make sure you explain?
Your audience demographics are an important consideration every time you write a speech or speak at an event – private or public. If use someone's first name alone, will everyone know who you're talking about? If you're making a joke, will everyone understand the reference? Do all the wedding guests know the bride's family members' first names?
Solid research helps you draw up a basic framework for your speech. Now you just have to fill in the blanks. Don't rush through this step, or you'll wind up regretting it when you're standing there at the podium, wishing you'd considered a few more details beforehand. Which leads us to our next piece of advice...
Give yourself the time you need to write
Few of us can write an excellent speech at the drop of a hat. Just as how not everyone can build a house from scratch. Fortunately, there are strategies that you can use to avoid losing your audience shortly after you begin to speak.
Take the time needed to write your speech. A good speech requires rereading, critiquing, reformulating, and even sometimes discarding phrases or paragraphs as you work over it again and again.
Spread out your collected materials in front of you and try to build it into a structure. What's the most logical order? Only the greeting and the conclusion are set in stone – everything in between is flexible. When does your speech begin to get dry and boring? Where is the wording too loose?
Stick with short sentences when you can. Nothing becomes more convoluted for both the speaker and the audience than nested sentence constructions. They may be easy to read (sometimes) but can rarely be presented correctly orally, even by the most experienced speaker. Short sentences, clear language. Especially if it's a specialist lecture, you'll impress people more if they can follow what you're saying than if you lose them in too many words.
A caution against slang! Your language must match you, as well as the context. Nothing is more awkward to watch than a manager trying to speak like "youth today" to new trainees. Even in private occasions, stay true to yourself – and your age! The language makes the speech and the speech manuscript has the same share in the success of the speech as the lecture. An unsuitable, cumbersome speech puts even the most experienced speaker in trouble.
Get yourself a coffee, read, and then get another coffee!
This is only half said in jest. A good speech is a result of checking, editing, and rechecking your manuscript several times over, with fresh eyes each time. You'll be amazed at how many typos or awkward wording you missed the first time you proofread!
If you have the time, take advantage of it and reread your speech at several different times. Ideally, read it out loud to yourself. Giving a speech is an art in itself, but it is only the final step. It still begins before that, but you're making a good start by writing your speech. You deserve that coffee!
With all this in mind, however, you can always save yourself a good deal of time and stress by hiring our professional speechwriters to do the hard work for you, leaving you to just focus on your big event. Contact us now!
