Speech writing.
As speech writing is so important, we have again
chosen to offer you more advice on the techniques required for effective speech-writing.
Writing a speech that pulls in and
wins a crowd is an art that should be studied and learned.
Expert speech writers have some
secrets that make them succeed. Learn from them.
The following are their tips for creating a good speech writing.
Use only your major ideas As you write your speech, do not try to put
in too many ideas into your writing.
Research confirms that people remember only very little
from speeches. So just pick out and develop a few ideas in accordance with the time stipulated for your speech.
Write as you talk
Let your speech-writing flow in the same pattern as when you talk. Remember what you are writing is a speech. It is not an essay People are going to hear it, not read it.
The more conversational you can make your speech sound, the better. Your audience will enjoy your
speech if they hear it in a natural conversational pattern.
The followihg hints may help you in creating a speech writing.
Avoid long sentences. Use short ones instead.
It is much better to write two simple
sentences than one long complicated sentence in a speech.
Use contractions as we do in informal situations. Instead of I am, say I’m. Use we’re instead of we are, I’ve instead of I have, etc. Avoid the use of high-sounding words.
Use only the normal words you use when talking to someone.
You must not follow all the rules of written English grammar.
This is because people do not always talk in complete sentences with verbs and nouns in place
Therefore, try to write your speech as people talk, not as they write. It makes it sound natural.
Form the habit of reading your speech aloud while you are doing the writing. This will make you hear immediately whether you are sounding well or not. Don’t speak as if you are reading from a book.
Use concrete details and matching
examples
When you use concrete details, you keep your audience interested. Look at the two sentences below and see which is more effective
A Open play spaces for children’s sports are in short supply.
B
We need more baseball and soccer fields for our kids.
Notice that sentence A sounds vague. We do not speak like that in normal speech. Sentence B is concrete and gives the pattern we use in our day-to-day conversations.
Learn to write your speech in a similar pattern to sentence B.
Get your facts together
As a speaker, it is a thing of joy to see people believing that you know what you are saying People will believe what you are saying only if you have your facts correct. You can get enough facts to support your points from research. Substantiate your points with enough facts, Convince your audience. Enjoy the sweetness of your success.
Your speech will sound real and strong if you have the facts to back it up.
Let your speech reflect your personality
If you have the chance to choose the topic of your speech, decide on an issue you are very passionate about. If you have strong feelings
about a topic, you definitely will speak well on it. Therefore, look inside yourself. Find out
what captures your interest more? What do you teel very deeply about?
Let your speech retlect
the answer. Capture your topic in such a way that you find yourself reflecting who you are and talking on what you care so much about.
Be persuasive
If your speech demands that you should persuade your audience, use what we call classic structure. Classic structure here means
problem-solution. This means that in the first part of your speech you should identify the problems, identify why things are so terrible the way they are. This will help people know you share their feelings. Then, in the second
part of your speech, offer what you consider the appropriate solutions to the problems.
You can use statistics and facts to support your claims. People are often convinced by such facts. Besides, quoting someone else whom the audience likes and respects adds to the success of your persuasion
Let your speech be simple
Simplicity in your speech is achieved by cutting out some words from those you have written
down. After writing your first draft, go back to it, re-read it from beginning, searching for words
you can cut out. The more words you cut, the clearer your speech will be. Therefore, learn to simplify your speech. Always remember to cut
out words that are not relevant to the meaning so as not to lose the message. The fewer your
words, the clearer your prints.