Effective Speeches: Writing Your Speech by Ronald Vereggen

Speech writing or speech craft is considered an art form in many circles. There are many aspects that must come together to make an effective speech. This will be the first in a series of articles where I will share with you some of my experiences of what I found to improve my overall speaking ability. We will cover quite a few details, everything from what to do to write your speech, to how to project confidence and tips for effective speech delivery.
For this article I will focus on writing your speech. There are three things to consider when writing your speech, objective, theme and structure. Let’s begin with …

Objective
All good speakers know exactly what they want to accomplish when they deliver a speech. They are focused on achieving a specific set of outcomes and define their objectives. In every speech, one of your objectives is to sell something. It might be an idea, a point of view, some information or an actual product. Without knowing your objective you will not be able to realize the “sale”. To complete the “sale” during your speech you need to tune into your audience. The station you are looking to tune into is WIIFM. WIIFM stands for What’s In It For Me. It is critical that you tune into WIIFM as soon as possible. This will draw your audience toward the direction you want to take them. One of the best ways to draw you audience in is to review the benefits and features of what you are going to “sell” them. Benefits are what people will get from using your product. Features outline what you product can do. Benefits focus on emotions (the heart). Features look at logic (the head). Of the two, it best to focus on the benefits of your topic. Grabbing the emotions of your audience will “out sell” the use of logic every time.

Remember that you have not “sold” anything unless you have convinced your audience to take action. Have you convinced your audience to use your techniques? Will your audience approve your idea? Have you swayed your audience over to your point of view? Will your audience buy the product you are attempting to sell? This is your ultimate goal in any speech. You must learn to inspire your audience to take action!

Theme
Now that you know what your objectives are, you need to design a theme for your speech. The theme is defined by the flow of content. Your content consists of the stories, facts, ideas, jokes, quotes and messages contained within your speech. An effective theme consists of related content. If your objective is to inspire your audience, your content should consist of inspiring stories, facts, ideas, jokes, quotes and messages. Each section should flow nicely from one section to the next. There’s nothing worse than a speech that jumps all over the place. When you do this you will quickly lose your audience. When creating your theme it’s best to select content that you are enthusiastic and passionate about. Select quotes that inspire you and choose ideas that move you! Channel that passion into your speech! Use stories from your life that have stirred your emotions. There’s a good chance that if something inspired you, it will inspire others.

Structure
Now that we have clearly defined the objectives and developed an overall theme for our speech, we now need to bring it all together. We need to develop the structure … There are a number of ways to structure your speech. One of the simplest is to develop a good opening, identify 3 to 5 main points to deliver and then wrap up with a concise closing that will move your audience to action.

Opening
It is good to identify the WIIFM with your audience during the opening of you speech. This means you need to let the audience know what benefits they are going receive by listening to you. By doing this early on, people will be tuned into what you are saying during your entire speech.
Body
The body of your speech should follow some sort of logical order or flow. A good example of this is chronological order. This is one of the most common speech structures to use. The idea is to structure your speech around time events. First this happened, then something else, etc …You can also use any structure that makes logical sense. The idea is to group your main points together so that they can be easily remembered and understood. You might describe different viewpoints or start with a broad focus and move toward a more narrow standpoint. There is really no limit. Just try to keep it simple.
Remember to keep the body of your speech to 3 to 5 main points. Too much information will overwhelm your audience. They will walk away dazed and confused instead of charged and ready to take action. During the opening of your speech focus on the benefits of your topic to sway the emotions of your audience so they will listen to you. Once you have captured their emotions, you can focus on the logic of your topic. The body of your speech is a good area to place the features of your topic. So go ahead to explain things in as much details as time will allow.
Closing
There are two main things you want to accomplish during the closing of your speech. The first is to review the main points of the body of your speech. This will refresh the key points of your topic. The second is to get your audience to take action. You need to close the “sale”. You need to tell people what you what them to do! So if you what them to buy your product … tell them! If you what them to vote if favour of your proposal … tell them! If you what them to use your idea … tell them!People will remember only about 10% of what you tell them. So it is best to tell the audience over and over what you are saying. It is ok to repeat the key points of your topic. A good way to do this is during the opening of your speech you tell them what you are going to tell them. During the body you tell them what you came to say. Finally, you tell them what you told them during the closing.
The End
I personally believe that anyone can become a good speaker. With a little (a lot?) of passion and determination it is possible to develop this skill. When you do, people will notice. Your confidence will come out in your personal and professional lives. Maybe you will be able to persuade others to your position on the golf course or on the school board? Perhaps you will be noticed for that next promotion at work? The possibilities are endless.

Copyright 2004 Focused Fool Inc. -- All Rights Reserved
About the Author
Ronald Vereggen, "The Focused Fool", helps inspire, encourage and empower individuals to achieve elite performance within their lives. As a Success Coach, Ron combines NLP and Personal Leadership techniques to assist you to *ACHIEVE SUCCESS* within your life. Explore the Focused Fool Community at www.FocusedFool.com to learn more.