Learn how to write a speech with these easy-to-follow tips and suggestions. I know the thought of preparing a speech can be overwhelming, but following these guidelines will help you organize your thoughts and craft a perfect presentation!The first step in figuring out how to write a speech is to decide on its purpose.
..In some rare instances, you may have complete and total freedom over the type of speech you intend to write.In most cases, though, either the instructor in the communications class for which you are creating the speech, or the occasion your speech is intended for, will dictate the type of speech you need to write.
Choosing the most appropriate type of speech to meet the needs of your situation, then, is crucial!
- The most common type of speech is an informative speech. The purpose of any good informative speech is to teach the audience about a topic. Your goal should be only to offer the audience details about a given speech topic.
- Persuasive speeches are also quite common in the world of public speaking.The goal of a persuasive speech is to get the audience to take action with regard to a particular issue. That action may be as simple as changing their way of thinking on a topic, or as complicated as following an action plan. Sales speeches are often persuasive speeches, as the goal of any good sales speech is to get audience members to purchase a product.
- Special occasion speechesare the type required for a particular event – graduation speeches fall under this category, for example, as do welcome speeches or those given at a wedding or birthday party.
- Demonstration speeches round out the most popular types of speeches. Demonstrations speeches show audience members how to complete a given task. The most popular cooking shows on television today are simply hour or half-hour demonstration speeches.
Half the battle is over once you have decided on the purpose of your speech.
Each type of speech comes with its own general layout.In most cases, you can simply plug your information into the layout for the type of speech you have chosen, and hey presto…
you have a text you can work with in front of an audience!Here’s an example of a demonstration speech outline an informative speech outline, plus some ideas for speech introductions. Good speech titles are important as well as speech delivery!Once you have a clear direction for the type of speech you’ll be writing – and an idea of how your thoughts should be organized – the next step is to pick a topic.Topic decisions are never easy ones to make! Your topic choices ARE narrowed somewhat by the type of speech you’ll be required to give, but you’ll likely still have plenty of latitude.The most important thing to remember is to settle on an appropriate topic to the style of speech you’re required to give, particularly if you’re in an educational environment and being graded on your efforts! For example, you would not choose a topic such as ‘the history of my favorite video game’ for a demonstration speech! Similarly, you would not persuade audience members to vote for a candidate in the next election if you’re working on an informative speech about voting laws.Figuring out the steps involved in how to write a speech isn’t always easy, but deciding on both purpose and topic will help get you off to a good start.Check out these top 5 speech writing tips for even more help in putting pen to paper and creating your masterpiece!
