Guidelines for writing a successful speech

1
The Speech

• Guidelines for writing a successful speech

2

• Friends, I want to thank your teachers for
  inviting me to share some tips for writing
  speeches with you today.
• If you keep these tips in mind, not only will you
  write an engaging speech, but your audience will
  remember what you say!

3
Tip 1 know your purpose

• The most common purposes in schools are
• to narrate an incident for a specific purpose
• to inform
• to persuade
• You will need to maintain a clear sense of why
  you are writing your speech

4
Tip 2 Engage your audience

• The first thirty seconds of your speech are
  probably the most important. You must grab the
  attention of the audience, and engage their
  interest in what you have to say.
• For example, you could raise a
  thought-provoking question, make an interesting
  or controversial statement, use a relevant quote
  or even tell a joke, if appropriate.
• Once you have hooked your audience, your speech
  should move seamlessly to the body of your
  speech.

5
Tip 3 Tell them what youre going to tell them

• Since your audience will hear your words instead
  of reading them, they wont be able to go back
  and re-listen if they dont understand
• Explain quickly what your main point is going to
  be, for example
• Today I want to talk to you about the
  importance of physical activity and why we should
  have more gym time

6
Tip 4 Choose your main ideas

• Dont try to put too many ideas into your speech
• Develop and support all your main points in the
  body of your speech

7
Provide a controlling idea, such as

• A viewpoint or position
• An opinion
• A specific statement of purpose
• An angle or special approach to the subject

8
Offer relevant support, such as

• Facts, statistics
• Examples
• Reference to personal experience
• Comparisons, contrasts
• Causes, effects
• Reasons
• Quotes
• Summary of others ideas

9
Be sure to reveal your thinking by one or more of
the following

• Explaining
• Reasoning
• Analyzing
• Making connections
• Interpreting
• Evaluating

• Discussing problems
• Drawing conclusions
• Persuading
• Discussing advantages, disadvantages
• Offering advice, solutions

10
To use your powers of persuasion
Problem-Solution is a classic

• In the first part of the body of your speech you
  state the problem
• Physical activity is very important but the
  problem is we dont have enough gym time
  (followed by relevant support)
• In the second part, you offer a solution
• A solution would be to shorten the time we spend
  in home room in the morning and add fifteen
  minutes to the end of the day to create more time
  for gym (followed by relevant support)

11
Tip 5 Write in a conversational tone

• Use short sentences. Its better to write two
  simple sentences than one long, complicated
  sentence.
• Use contractions. Say Im, were, etc.
• Read your speech aloud while youre writing it.
  Youll hear if you sound like a book or a real
  person talking!

12
Tip 6 Use concrete words and examples

• Concrete details keep your audience interested.
• Which is more effective?
• a vague sentence like time for physical activity
  is limited
• or the more concrete like we need more time in
  our school day to be active in sports.

13
Tip 7 A few no-nos

• Dont overstate
• This is absolutely and positively essential!
• It is indeed an honor and a privilege to address
  you
• Dont grope
• What Im trying to get at is What I mean is
• Dont be repetitive
• As I said before, and so I again repeat, let
  me say again

14
Tip 8 The conclusion

• Close with a strong or memorable remark
• If we can make physical activity a daily
  activity at our school, our students will not
  only feel and look better, they will be on their
  way to developing healthy lifestyles for a
  lifetime! Please help me spread the word.

15
Information adapted from

• http//teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/speech/inde
  x.htm
• http//www.speechtips.com/preparation.html
• Dr. Charles Whitaker, Prof of English Emeritus,
  EKU
• Prepared by
• Jennifer Bernhard
• Reading/Writing Specialist
• Clark County Schools
• Jennifer.bernhard_at_clark.kyschools.us