Giving a speech you wrote to students in your classroom, during an event at your university, or even as part of your job can be intimidating and stressful, especially if you are not used to public speaking and have never written a speech before.
We will start today’s article by talking about how to write a speech, as this step is the most important of all because, if you cannot formulate a good speech in writing, it will be impossible for you to deliver it and get the interaction and influence that you seek. So what are the steps for writing a successful speech, then?
1- Research well before you start writing.
Whether the goal of your speech is informational or persuading the audience to support a particular cause, you should research the topic well before you start writing. The in-depth research will contribute to raising the credibility of the speech and making it more convincing to the audience. Use the various sources of books, magazines, and articles while making sure that your sources are reliable, such as academic journals, government websites, and others. You can also inquire about the body that commissioned you to deliver the speech and find out what kinds and numbers of appropriate sources you can turn to.
2- Draw up an outline of the speech.
Before you start writing the speech, be sure to draw up a side chart that shows the main ideas in the speech in order to ensure that the ideas flow logically and clearly. The speech usually consists of the following main parts:
- Introduction.
- 5 main points that represent the speech’s content and are frequently supported by evidence such as statistics, quotes, and examples.
- Conclusion.
If you are writing an informative letter, be sure to follow a problem-and-solution outline in structuring the letter. The speech begins by presenting the problem and then discusses the ways and means that can be used to reach a solution.
3- Choose an attractive start.
The first lines in the speech are the most important of all, as they either attract the interest of the audience to listen to you or make them bored and lose their focus and refrain from listening to you. So make sure that the beginning of your letter is captivating. We’ll go over several ways you can start with this letter in a later article, but the bottom line is choosing an appropriate sentence based on the type of speech you’re giving. It could be a funny phrase, a sad sentence, a shocking fact, or a scary story that hooks and excites the listeners, but make sure that this opening sentence matches the topic of your speech. For example, if you’re going to talk about losing weight, you might start by saying:
“Five years ago, I was so fat that I had to stop while walking up the stairs to take a break!”
4- Link your topic to a larger cause.
If you can’t make the audience feel that they are somehow connected to your topic, you will never be able to come up with a good, interesting speech. Whatever topic you’re writing about, always think of a big issue or a way you can bring listeners closer to what you’re talking about. For example, if you are writing a speech about Alzheimer’s disease, you can talk about the extent of this disease in the world and its wide impact on different families, and be sure to support your topic with a number of statistics or real-life stories.
5- Follow a logical order.
Unlike a written article in which the reader can read the paragraph several times in case he is unable to understand a particular part, the discourse remains an oral text that may be difficult for the listener to follow with concentration until the end. Therefore, after writing the interesting introduction that will attract the audience’s attention, he touched on each of the points. Make your transition from one point to the next clear and easy to understand. Consider devoting one paragraph to each of the main points of the speech.
Let’s say you’re giving a speech to stop the use of animals in cosmetic testing. In this case, you can start by talking about how cruel this behavior is to animals, then move on to explaining why it is unnecessary, and then move on to talking about alternatives that can be used instead of using animals as test subjects.
6- Make sure to provide summaries during the speech.
One clever way to make your speech stand out and make it easier for the audience to follow is through summarization. Do not wait until you finish your speech to summarize what was stated in it, and do not suffice with the introduction in which you indicate what you will talk about, but rather repeat these steps several times during the speech. This method becomes more important if the discourse is long or deals with complex and difficult topics. Let’s assume that you are going to give a speech about the problem of unemployment in a specific country. There is no doubt that your speech will talk about the causes of unemployment, its effects, and the proposed solutions to reduce it.
7- Use linking words
Avoid moving from one idea to another without using appropriate words and phrases, as this leads to interrupting the sequence of ideas and the flow of the text, which may distract the audience. You may not notice the importance of such a thing when you are writing or reading the speech, but to someone listening to the speech, the text will appear prosaic and incoherent if it lacks such phrases.
- Tools of interpretation and justification: because of, missing, any, etc.
- Result-giving tools: therefore, for that, which led to… etc.
- Disagreement in meaning: but, however, despite, except that, but that…
- Synchronicity: while, at the time, at the same time, etc.
- Addition: in addition to that, in addition to that, in addition to that, in addition to…etc.
8. Conclude with a call-to-action.
If you followed the previous steps in writing the speech, then you have undoubtedly managed to grab the audience’s attention and make them excited to give an appropriate reaction to the topic you raised. So take advantage of this opportunity to end your speech with a call to action. You might mention a range of sources and places that the public can go to in order to help support the issue or topic that you touched upon. Or suggest that they share with you appropriate solutions and suggestions on the subject…
If your speech is about how to contribute to saving endangered animals, you can mention a group of organizations working in this field so that the public can join them as volunteers or support them by donating or otherwise. If your speech is motivational and you talk about personal experience, ask the audience if they have been through similar circumstances or offer a set of tips that they can follow to start changing their lives, and so on. Choose what you see as relevant.
Appropriate Call to Action means to encourage your audience to interact with you.
Read also: What skills should a successful employee possess?
