There may come a time in your life when you’ll be called upon to give a speech. It could be a speech at work, at a birthday party, a wedding or at a funeral. In order to be able to deliver a speech well vocally, it needs to be firstly planned and written well. This article shares 5 speech writing tips to help you prepare the best speech possible:
1. Research, Research, Research
Depending on the topic of your speech, you will have to do some research. If you are already an expert in the area of your speech, then the research you will have to do may be minimal. However, if you are unfamiliar with your topic area, you will need to do some research.
The internet has vast amounts of information on every single topic imaginable, so it makes sense to go to this resource first. Additional paperback books, magazines and newspapers can also help. The purpose of this research stage is to familiarise yourself with the topic of your speech, collect important facts, figures and experiences that people may have had, as you will be using some of these when you begin to write your speech.
2. Create an Outline
Every outstanding speech has a beginning, middle and an end. It can be helpful to bear this mind when writing your speech. It is even better to grab a piece of paper, and write down headings for the three main speech sections, leaving plenty of space in between for the material you will write for each part.
3. Have an Engaging Opening Statement
When sitting down to write the introduction to your speech, think of how you can really capture the audience’s attention. For example could you open up your speech by asking the audience a question? If it is appropriate, is it possible to start off with a humorous statement?
4. Write Word Pictures
When delivering your speech, unless you have planned to use PowerPoint or props, you will most likely be speaking without any other visuals. Therefore, it is imperative that you create word pictures in the minds of your audience.
You can do this by being conscious of and using the right type of language when writing out the main body of your speech. Use plenty of descriptive words, so that listeners of your speech can truly see, hear, feel, taste and touch what you say.
5. Use Humour
Nothing keeps an audience going like humour. Therefore, where you can, write out one or two funny elements into your speech. Remember, your goal isn’t to be a stand-up comedian when you deliver your speech. This is the role of stand-up comics. Your goal is to simply engage and entertain your audience.
If you’re naturally funny, then creating humour should come easier to you. If you’re not naturally funny, then this isn’t a problem. Humour can be found in the most mundane of things. When you’re writing out your speech, re-read the sentences you’ve written and consider whether you can add some further words, which will create humour.
Image credit: COD Newsroom on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]