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Few people can stand up and deliver a speech effectively without preparation. Even with notes to refer to, many business people find public speaking stressful and uncomfortable. Much of this is down to the quality of your planning and the notes you write. Creating effective speeches, whether you talk round bullet points or read out pre-written content, can go a long way to easing the strain. What is the best way to plan, structure and write your presentations?
Planning Your Speech – Work Out Your Aim, Audience and Angle
Every speech you make has a purpose that must be delivered to its target audience. Before you start writing, therefore, it’s wise to jot down some notes to establish what you need to say, to whom and why. There are three points to consider here:
- Aim: Why are you making this speech? You may need to sell something, to give information or to educate your audience in some way. Make sure you clearly understand your own message.
- Audience: Who are you talking to? You may be giving a small internal presentation or delivering a speech to a large external group. Make sure you know your audience and how to communicate to them most effectively.
- Angle: How can you get your audience to act on your presentation? The way you present your speech, your content and tone all need to be appropriately targeted to your listeners. Find angles that naturally lead them to act in the way that you need.
Thinking through these three points will help you target your logical sequence – this will then be used to help you during the processes of planning and writing your speech.
How to Write a Speech Outline
Although some people find writing papers and speech simple once they know their aim, audience and angle, many benefit from writing a basic outline before they create actual content. Keep this concise and simple and try to write in a logical order – you can craft the meat of your content around your notes when you are happy with the structure. In the simplest terms, this breaks down into:
- The introduction: In this section, you will introduce yourself and state your credentials (if appropriate). You’ll then, quite simply, tell your audience what you will be talking about and, ideally, why they should listen.
- The body: This will be the longest section of your presentation. List the points you will be making in a logical sequence. Use your aim, audience and angle research during this process.
- The conclusion: Here you will recap on what has been said and, if appropriate, give/remind your audience of any call to action.
Once your planning is in place, you can move on to actually writing your speech.
Creating the Content of a Speech
Your speech outline gives you a bare-bones structure around which you can construct your presentation. You should, at this point, keep your timing in mind but don’t worry about it too much as you can always cut or add content later. Saying that, be careful not to waste time creating too much or too little content for the time you have.
It’s quite common to stall at this stage so you may find it easier to write the body of your speech first, leaving the introduction and conclusion to last. Write to and around your notes point by point to build up your presentation. Keep in mind that you need each point to be fully covered with appropriate detail, examples and supporting evidence. Your flow should move naturally and logically with each point leading on to the next.
Your use of language is important here. You may find that you are more comfortable using plain English and keeping jargon and buzzwords to a minimum. Avoid long waffling sentences that go nowhere and make sure to mix up your flow by combining short, sharp statements with longer explanations. You stand a better chance of keeping your audience engaged if the language you use encourages them to listen. Too much of any one style could lead some to switch off.
Rehearsing Your Speech
Most people find it useful to run through a speech out loud before they give it. From your perspective, this can help you assess how easy it is to say what you have to say. If you stumble over words or sentences and lose the flow, then you may need to refine your content. This process also gives you a chance to check the timing of your presentation and to factor in any visuals or devices that you will be using.
Presenting the speech to another person or group of people could also be useful. Ask for candid and open feedback, check that your message gets across and question your test audience to assess how well they took on board your aim and angle. If they get bored, lose interest or don’t get the point of your speech, then the chances are your audience will have the same reaction.
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The post Public Speaking Techniques: How to Write a Speech appeared first on The Good Men Project.