Speech writing is not an easy job and even professionals sometimes don’t know how to write a speech. You might be thinking about how to write a graduation speech after your Ph.D. defense or how to write a speech about yourself, maybe even how to write a valedictorian speech, or you have a different topic in mind.
Speeches are meant to be spoken but it is better to get yourself prepared for the speech. The reason is that speeches create an impact, for example, you are a politician and you want to address your nation before upcoming elections. It is better that you prepare a speech before addressing them so that you don’t forget any important point, or might accidentally say something which you didn’t mean. To write it, you need to know how to write a persuasive speech or master political speech writing. In this article, you will learn tips and tricks on how to write a speech.
How To Write A Speech?
The first step for “how to write a good speech” is to make a list. The list will contain all the important elements that you need to mention in your speech. It is a great tool to use so that you don’t forget the points while writing your speech. Now you must be wondering how to write a speech outline or how to write an outline for a speech.
How To Write A Speech Outline? Preparation Basics
Writing a speech outline is easy. All you need to do is to grab a paper and think about what you want to talk about. You need to make points before you start writing a speech. The outline doesn’t end with an introduction, main points, and conclusion. You need to mention other things such as examples, evidence, etc.
TIP: You should always remember that you can refine your outline later. It is better to add all the information that seems legitimate which can make your speech stronger.
Furthermore, you need to brainstorm some juicy facts as well. These facts can boost your speech. In other words, outlining is rough work for your speech.
Carrying Out Research
Once you’ve noted all the important points, facts, and evidence, now you should move to the next step which is researching. You might have a strong command of the subject for which you will write a speech but it is still better if you research out things. Through research, you will find facts, evidence, and examples as well.
You can gather the research materials from books, research papers, and even if you search on the Internet, you will find plenty of materials and proofreading services that will help you to construct an amazing speech.
Writing Process
Let’s just say that you will be giving a speech at a wedding or on a funeral of your loved one, and you don’t know a spoken word. Don’t worry, you just need to follow these points. In the case of a funeral or wedding, people are way busy with their things and if your speech isn’t well-constructed then people will either yawn, weep (because of the funeral), or just laugh out. You need to grab the audience’s attention.
The opening line is the most important part of the speech. It will tell either your speech sounds amazing or it is just another boring speech. Now you don’t need to search for “how to write a wedding speech” or “how to write a funeral speech”.
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- Crafting the Introduction
Now you have started your speech, you should first focus on the introduction. The introduction of your speech neither is too long or too short. Just give a small introduction to your topic and get forward to your main reasons. Remember! The introduction is just like an appetizer, if the listeners didn’t like your introduction then most probably, they will stop listening to you.
Let’s take an example that you are writing a speech on Alzheimer’s research. You should focus on telling your audience how common is Alzheimer’s disease and how it can affect people. You can come up with a combination of an anecdote and statistics as well.
TIP: Make sure that your introduction should be less than 1 paragraph. This will make sure that you don’t spend much time on the background.
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- The Meat of the Speech
Now the main part has begun which is the main meal of the speech. Remember that outline of speech? Here it will help you a lot to remember all the points. Moreover, you need to connect your background with your topic. It is very important because if your topic might not seem as relevant to your audience then they are most likely to leave.
Ensure that all points are clear and offer evidence, statistics, facts, and additional information. They should be in a logical order because reshuffling sometimes might confuse the audience.
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- Bring up new topics and conclude the material that you have already covered
You might have noticed in your outline that some points are pretty much lengthy and not too important. Those points will consume a lot of time. Remember rule no.1 of speech! Don’t waste your and your audience’s time! What you can do is provide a brief 1 to 2 sentences overview and then summarize the material in a few sentences after you are done explaining it.
In case it is important, try to find an alternative way to make it short. When you are giving brief information, make sure that the audience understands it otherwise it will be a waste of your energy.
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- Transitions are the key to success
The transition will make it your readers or listeners easy to understand your speech. It will create a path where all the points will be connected. You might not notice a transition in a speech but without transition, the speech will seem choppy and awkward.
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- End with a smile
Once you think that all points have been delivered now it’s time to end it. By the end, if you wrote an amazing speech then your audience will be excited by your speech and ready to act. You should encourage them to research your topic more and also participate in your act of solution.
Amazing Points to Make Your Speech More Engaging
Following are some speech writing tips.
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- “KISS”
KISS means Keep It Short and Simple. Instead of using long sentences, break your sentences into small sentences. It is better at reading a hundred sentences rather than a huge sentence. Long sentences can be, sometimes, confusing.
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- Noun Over Pronoun
You can use pronouns a few times because it helps in avoiding repeating. However, multiple uses of pronouns can change the track of what you are talking about. Instead, you can use a noun whenever possible.
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- Repeat Word Or Phrase Few Times
Repetition is a very powerful tool in speech writing format. It can make your speech engaging as well as can make a distraction.
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- Use Of Appropriate Tone
Don’t forget that you are talking to the whole world. Your tone will show how much serious or upbeat, humorous or urgent. Your word choice will be the tone of your speech.
Conclusion
Either you want to know how to write a motivational speech or how to write a commencement speech, now you know all the important points which will help you to construct an amazing speech. All you need to do is practice it a lot. Keep all the speech writing tips in your mind while practicing.
Do you know you can earn from writing speeches as well? You can provide speech writing services as a full-time worker or freelancer! There are many speeches writing jobs available, all you need to do is grab the golden bird and start earning.