what are the 5 steps in preparing a speech

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A Five-Step Model for Speech Preparation

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How to Prepare for a Speech in 5 Simple Steps

Want to know how to prepare for a speech? 

First, you need to understand that the ONE thing most successful speeches have in common is this:

The best speeches seem effortless. That is, most impactful speeches are often those that seem like they weren’t prepared for, as if they are impromptu, passionate talks that capture the attention of listeners. 

These speeches come across as eloquent, but not stiff. Conversational, but passionate. Clear, but with depth. 

Preparing for a speech means putting in hours of prep work to ensure your speech doesn’t feel stiffed and rehearsed for the audience, or for you. 

But the the reality is that successful speeches DO require consistent, careful preparation. From crafting a compelling message to perfecting your delivery, here’s a step-by-step process you can follow for preparing an impactful speech: 

• Define Your Purpose and Audience
• Narrow Down Your Message
• Polish Speech Structure and Organization
• Prepare the Opening and Closing
• Master Rehearsal and Delivery

BONUS Tips to Prepare For a Speech

#1 –  define your purpose and audience.

When preparing for a speech, clearly defining your purpose and understanding your target audience are essential steps. You first have to determine why you are writing the speech, and who the speech is for. This will help you build a solid foundation as you begin to write and prepare for your speech. 

First, define your purpose. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• Why are you writing this speech?
• What do you want to achieve with your speech?
• Do you aim to inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire your audience?

Depending on your answers to the above questions, you’ll want to ensure that you’re considering the purpose of the speech before you even begin writing. 

For example, maybe you’re writing a speech for your best friend’s wedding. In this case, you’d likely want to create a memorable, touching speech that highlights your friend’s best qualities and elicits excitement for their marriage journey. You’d want to leave a lasting impression that makes everyone laugh , entertains, or inspires the wedding guests for years to come. Knowing the purpose before you start writing, will help you craft a speech that considers your end-goal.

Determining your speech’s purpose will help you guide your message towards a specific direction and ensure that your content remains focused and impactful. Clarity in your message is key to effectively conveying your ideas. By emphasizing one key message and structuring your speech around it, you can help your audience grasp the main point you’re trying to convey. 

Second, define your target audience. Ask yourself these questions:

• Who are you speaking to?
• What do they care about? 
• How do they fit into your speech’s purpose? 

Understanding the answers to these questions will help you prepare a speech that resonates with your target audience – the very people who will hear your message. Additional details such as their age, background, interests, and level of knowledge about your topic will help you tailor your speech accordingly.

Consider the previous example of writing a speech for your friend’s wedding. Your target audience in this case might consist of people from all ages and backgrounds who share a commonality: they love and care for the newly wed couple. They are there to witness a celebration of love, and want to be part of the couple’s special day. Therefore, as you prepare for your speech, you need to consider the audience and what you can say that will resonate with them.

Audience analysis plays a vital role in tailoring your speech to help reach your listeners. You can use strategies such as empathy mapping techniques , you can get more insight into your audience’s perspectives, thoughts, feelings, actions, pains, and gains. This understanding allows you to craft a speech that speaks directly to their interests and concerns which helps increase audience engagement.

Once you’ve determined your speech purpose and target audience, you can move on to the next step of the speech preparation process. 

#2 – Narrow Down Your Message

Sometimes, it can get overwhelming when you start to think of what to write. Maybe you don’t know exactly what you want to say, or how to say it. Or maybe you have an idea of your speech’s overall message, but you don’t know how to communicate it. 

Regardless of your situation, it’s important to get any and all ideas out first through a process of brainstorming. Then, once you’ve added all of your ideas to paper, you can prioritize the most important ones. 

Just like an effective conversation or presentation, a speech must have a central theme, or core message.

What is the keway you want your audience to remember after your speech?

The goal is to decide on one central core message, so you can build up your speech around it. 

Then, you can begin to craft a compelling message with clear significance. This will help you to captivate your audience and convey your ideas effectively.

Once you have your central message defined, you can start brainstorming which elements to include that help build that message. Here are some examples:

• Engaging anecdotes: Share personal stories or relatable experiences to connect with your audience on a deeper level and make your message memorable.
• Impactful quotations: Integrate quotes from reputable sources or well-known figures that support your key points and add credibility to your message.
• Emotional appeal: Appeal to the emotions of your audience by evoking feelings of empathy, joy, or even urgency to make your message resonate and leave a lasting impression.
• Credible research: Gather evidence like facts, statistics, quotes, or anecdotes to substantiate your points.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to move on to the next step. 

#3 – Polish the Structure and Organization

Now that you have most of your main ideas formulated, you have to consider the right placement of your content so that everything flows coherently.

The key is to help your audience follow along, so they can understand what you’re trying to say in your speech. The last thing you want is a speech that doesn’t have clear flow, or feels jumbled. This is the easiest way to lose your audience’s attention!

Writing a well-structured speech is crucial for effectively conveying your message and engaging your audience from the start.

Begin by outlining your speech, including your clear topic, purpose, and main points to guide your content arrangement. Ensure that your speech flows smoothly by incorporating clear transitions between ideas and emphasizing your main points.

Organize your content in a logical sequence to help your audience follow along easily. Structuring your speech in a coherent manner won’t only keep you on track but also aid in delivering your key messages effectively. By creating a solid framework for your speech, aligning it with its purpose, and maintaining a logical flow of information, you can effectively convey your message and engage your audience’s attention.

Here are some common speech structure formats: 

• Chronological: Organize your speech in a sequential order, following a timeline or series of events.
• Problem-Solution: Present a problem or challenge, then propose solutions or ways to address it.
• Cause and Effect: Discuss the causes leading to certain effects or outcomes, or vice versa.
• Topical: Group information by topics or themes, presenting each one separately.
• Comparative: Compare and contrast different ideas, concepts, or perspectives within your speech.

Remember that a well-organized speech sets the stage for a successful delivery and helps you make a lasting impact on your listeners.

Once your structure and organization is outlined, you can combine everything and begin the writing process. As you write and refine your speech, use clear and concise language. Avoid jargon and complex sentences that your audience might not understand.

Once you have a draft you can work with, move on to the next step!

#4 – Prepare Your Speech’s Opening and Ending

To captivate your audience from the start and leave a lasting impact, mastering the art of crafting a strong opening and ending is essential. 

Don’t underestimate the power of your opening and closing remarks. For many speeches, these lines are the equivalent of a “first and last impression” on your audience, so it’s important to take your time refining them. 

Your opening and ending should be written AFTER you’ve structured and organized your content – so don’t skip this process!

When preparing your speech’s opening and ending, keep in mind the following key points:

• Use an attention grabber: Begin with a compelling anecdote, a thought-provoking question, or a surprising fact to immediately capture the audience’s interest and curiosity.
• Leave a lasting impression: Your ending should summarize key points concisely, reiterate the main message, and leave the audience with a strong call-to-action or a memorable quote that resonates with them.
• Create connection: By using storytelling, personal experiences, or emotional appeals in both the opening and ending, you can establish a deeper connection with your audience, making your speech more relatable and impactful.

You might have ideas for more than one opening and closing statement – that’s okay! If that happens, try to narrow your selection down to two ideas. You can let your draft “simmer” and get insight and opinions from close family and friends that you practice your speech on. 

#5 – Master Rehearsal and Delivery

Once your speech is 90% written, it’s time to start practicing your rehearsal and delivery with your internal network of family and friends. Ideally, your practice audience should consist of your target audience, so that you can get the most effective and relevant feedback.

When preparing for a speech, prioritize thorough rehearsal and confident delivery to engage your audience effectively. Start by incorporating vocal exercises to warm up your voice and improve clarity. Pay attention to your body language, ensuring it’s open, confident, and matches your message.

Building confidence through positive affirmations and visualizing a successful delivery can help calm nerves. Utilize rehearsal techniques like practicing in front of a mirror, recording yourself, or seeking feedback from a friend. Remember to focus on key points rather than memorizing the entire speech to maintain authenticity.

When it comes to delivery, maintain good eye contact, vary your pace for emphasis, and use gestures to emphasize key points. Remember to breathe and pause when needed to allow the audience to digest information. By following these tips, you can deliver a compelling speech that resonates with your audience.

To summarize, here are some tips to master your speech rehearsal: 

• Practice in front of others: Get feedback and overcome any anxieties.
• Practice Regularly: Dedicate consistent time to rehearse your speech, ideally multiple times leading up to the event.
• Practice out loud: This helps you refine your delivery, timing, and flow.
• Record yourself: Use audio or video recording tools to capture your rehearsals and review them for improvement.
• Time yourself: Practice delivering your speech within the allotted time to ensure it fits the allocated slot.
• Focus on delivery: Pay attention to your tone, pace, and body language while rehearsing to enhance your delivery.
• Memorize key points: Memorize the key points or main ideas of your speech to maintain a natural flow and connection with your audience.
• Seek feedback: Ask trusted friends, family members, or colleagues to provide constructive feedback on your delivery and content.
• Rehearse in different settings: Practice your speech in various environments to adapt to different acoustics and audience sizes.

Tip #1 –  Manage your nerves

Sweaty forehead, shaky voice, stuttering, and word stumbling… we all know the feeling of being nervous during a presentation. And unfortunately, it’s not easy to hide nerves once the physiological response sets in, meaning your audience can pick up on your anxiety. It’s okay to be nervous, but you want to prevent yourself from being too nervous that your audience can pick up on your nervousness and anxiety. 

The good news? You can learn how to calm down before a presentation and avoid stage fright.

Here are some tips to combat nerves when preparing for a speech:

• Take deep breaths: Slowing down your breathing can help calm your nerves.
• Visualize success: Imagine yourself delivering a confident and impactful speech .
• Focus on your message: Remember, your passion and knowledge about the topic can overshadow any anxieties as long as you can stay focused.

Tip #2 –  Prepare delivery aids (optional)

A delivery aid, often referred to as a visual aid or presentation aid, is any supplementary material used by a speaker during a speech or presentation to enhance the audience’s understanding and engagement. These aids can take various forms, including slides, charts, graphs, props, videos, or handouts. The primary purpose of delivery aids is to complement the verbal delivery of the speaker and reinforce key points or concepts being discussed. If you’re incorporating technical concepts into your speech, or trying to explain scientific or abstract points, delivery aids can be helpful. 

Common types of delivery aids for a speech:

• Slides: Presentation software like PowerPoint or Keynote allows speakers to create slides with text, images, and multimedia to support their speech.
• Visuals: Charts, graphs, diagrams, and infographics can visually represent data or concepts for easier understanding.
• Props: Physical objects or models can be used as props to illustrate points or add a tactile element to the presentation.
• Videos: Short video clips or animations can be integrated into the speech to demonstrate processes, showcase examples, or tell a story.
• Handouts: Printed materials such as handouts, worksheets, or summaries can provide additional information or resources for the audience to reference during or after the speech.

Tip #3 – Choose your speech outfit (and rehearse in it!)

When choosing what to wear for a speech , it’s important to consider professionalism, comfort, and appropriateness for the occasion. 

Your outfit should convey confidence, professionalism, and respect for the audience. It should also align with the tone and formality of the event. Choose attire that makes you feel comfortable and confident, allowing you to focus on delivering your speech effectively.

Here are some tips for choosing what to wear for your speech presentation: 

• Dress Professionally: Choose attire that reflects the formality of the event and conveys professionalism. Opt for well-fitted clothing in classic styles and neutral colors so you can look polished and put-together.
• Prioritize Comfort: While it’s essential to dress professionally, make sure your outfit is comfortable to wear for an extended period. Avoid clothing that is too tight, restrictive, or uncomfortable.
• Consider the Audience and Venue: Take into account the audience demographics and the setting of the event when selecting your outfit. Aim to dress in a way that’s respectful and appropriate for the audience while also considering factors such as the venue’s dress code and climate.
• Minimize Distractions: Avoid clothing with loud patterns, flashy accessories, or overly revealing styles that could distract the audience from your message. Opt for simple, understated attire that allows the focus to remain on your speech and delivery.
• Pay Attention to Grooming: Don’t forget to pay attention to grooming details such as hair, nails, and hygiene. Ensure your appearance is neat and tidy, and consider factors such as makeup and accessories to enhance your overall look without being distracting.
• Test Your Outfit: Before the event, try on your outfit and practice moving and speaking in it to ensure it’s comfortable and doesn’t restrict your movements. Make any necessary adjustments or alterations ahead of time to avoid last-minute wardrobe issues.
• Bring a Backup: As a precaution, consider bringing a backup outfit or accessories in case of any wardrobe malfunctions or unexpected changes in plans. This’ll give you peace of mind and ensure you’re prepared for any unforeseen circumstances on the day of the event.

You’ve laid the groundwork for a successful speech preparation journey. By understanding your purpose and audience, crafting a compelling message, organizing your content effectively, and practicing diligently, you’re well on your way to delivering a memorable and impactful speech.

Embrace the challenge, stay focused, and remember that the key to success lies in your dedication and commitment to delivering an effective, impactful speech that gets your core message across.

And don’t lose sight of what matters throughout the journey: Your speech matters, and you have the power to impact many lives with your message. No matter what happens, your efforts and persistence in overcoming any obstacles when it comes to preparing and delivering your speech will make it all worthwhile.

Good luck on your speech preparation endeavors!

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How to write a speech that your audience remembers

Whether in a work meeting or at an investor panel, you might give a speech at some point. And no matter how excited you are about the opportunity, the experience can be nerve-wracking . 

But feeling butterflies doesn’t mean you can’t give a great speech. With the proper preparation and a clear outline, apprehensive public speakers and natural wordsmiths alike can write and present a compelling message. Here’s how to write a good speech you’ll be proud to deliver.

What is good speech writing?

Good speech writing is the art of crafting words and ideas into a compelling, coherent, and memorable message that resonates with the audience. Here are some key elements of great speech writing:

• It begins with clearly understanding the speech's purpose and the audience it seeks to engage. 
• A well-written speech clearly conveys its central message, ensuring that the audience understands and retains the key points. 
• It is structured thoughtfully, with a captivating opening, a well-organized body, and a conclusion that reinforces the main message. 
• Good speech writing embraces the power of engaging content, weaving in stories, examples, and relatable anecdotes to connect with the audience on both intellectual and emotional levels. 

Ultimately, it is the combination of these elements, along with the authenticity and delivery of the speaker , that transforms words on a page into a powerful and impactful spoken narrative.

What makes a good speech?

A great speech includes several key qualities, but three fundamental elements make a speech truly effective:

Clarity and purpose

Remembering the audience, cohesive structure.

While other important factors make a speech a home run, these three elements are essential for writing an effective speech.

The main elements of a good speech

The main elements of a speech typically include:

• Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your speech and grabs the audience's attention. It should include a hook or attention-grabbing opening, introduce the topic, and provide an overview of what will be covered.
• Opening/captivating statement: This is a strong statement that immediately engages the audience and creates curiosity about the speech topics.
• Thesis statement/central idea: The thesis statement or central idea is a concise statement that summarizes the main point or argument of your speech. It serves as a roadmap for the audience to understand what your speech is about.
• Body: The body of the speech is where you elaborate on your main points or arguments. Each point is typically supported by evidence, examples, statistics, or anecdotes. The body should be organized logically and coherently, with smooth transitions between the main points.
• Supporting evidence: This includes facts, data, research findings, expert opinions, or personal stories that support and strengthen your main points. Well-chosen and credible evidence enhances the persuasive power of your speech.
• Transitions: Transitions are phrases or statements that connect different parts of your speech, guiding the audience from one idea to the next. Effective transitions signal the shifts in topics or ideas and help maintain a smooth flow throughout the speech.
• Counterarguments and rebuttals (if applicable): If your speech involves addressing opposing viewpoints or counterarguments, you should acknowledge and address them. Presenting counterarguments makes your speech more persuasive and demonstrates critical thinking.
• Conclusion: The conclusion is the final part of your speech and should bring your message to a satisfying close. Summarize your main points, restate your thesis statement, and leave the audience with a memorable closing thought or call to action.
• Closing statement: This is the final statement that leaves a lasting impression and reinforces the main message of your speech. It can be a call to action, a thought-provoking question, a powerful quote, or a memorable anecdote.
• Delivery and presentation: How you deliver your speech is also an essential element to consider. Pay attention to your tone, body language, eye contact , voice modulation, and timing. Practice and rehearse your speech, and try using the 7-38-55 rule to ensure confident and effective delivery.

While the order and emphasis of these elements may vary depending on the type of speech and audience, these elements provide a framework for organizing and delivering a successful speech.

How to structure a good speech

You know what message you want to transmit, who you’re delivering it to, and even how you want to say it. But you need to know how to start, develop, and close a speech before writing it. 

Think of a speech like an essay. It should have an introduction, conclusion, and body sections in between. This places ideas in a logical order that the audience can better understand and follow them. Learning how to make a speech with an outline gives your storytelling the scaffolding it needs to get its point across.

Here’s a general speech structure to guide your writing process:

• Explanation 1
• Explanation 2
• Explanation 3

How to write a compelling speech opener

Some research shows that engaged audiences pay attention for only 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Other estimates are even lower, citing that people stop listening intently in fewer than 10 minutes . If you make a good first impression at the beginning of your speech, you have a better chance of interesting your audience through the middle when attention spans fade. 

Implementing the INTRO model can help grab and keep your audience’s attention as soon as you start speaking. This acronym stands for interest, need, timing, roadmap, and objectives, and it represents the key points you should hit in an opening. 

Here’s what to include for each of these points: 

• Interest : Introduce yourself or your topic concisely and speak with confidence . Write a compelling opening statement using relevant data or an anecdote that the audience can relate to.
• Needs : The audience is listening to you because they have something to learn. If you’re pitching a new app idea to a panel of investors, those potential partners want to discover more about your product and what they can earn from it. Read the room and gently remind them of the purpose of your speech. 
• Timing : When appropriate, let your audience know how long you’ll speak. This lets listeners set expectations and keep tabs on their own attention span. If a weary audience member knows you’ll talk for 40 minutes, they can better manage their energy as that time goes on. 
• Routemap : Give a brief overview of the three main points you’ll cover in your speech. If an audience member’s attention starts to drop off and they miss a few sentences, they can more easily get their bearings if they know the general outline of the presentation.
• Objectives : Tell the audience what you hope to achieve, encouraging them to listen to the end for the payout. 

Writing the middle of a speech

The body of your speech is the most information-dense section. Facts, visual aids, PowerPoints — all this information meets an audience with a waning attention span. Sticking to the speech structure gives your message focus and keeps you from going off track, making everything you say as useful as possible.

Limit the middle of your speech to three points, and support them with no more than three explanations. Following this model organizes your thoughts and prevents you from offering more information than the audience can retain. 

Using this section of the speech to make your presentation interactive can add interest and engage your audience. Try including a video or demonstration to break the monotony. A quick poll or survey also keeps the audience on their toes. 

Wrapping the speech up

To you, restating your points at the end can feel repetitive and dull. You’ve practiced countless times and heard it all before. But repetition aids memory and learning , helping your audience retain what you’ve told them. Use your speech’s conclusion to summarize the main points with a few short sentences.

Try to end on a memorable note, like posing a motivational quote or a thoughtful question the audience can contemplate once they leave. In proposal or pitch-style speeches, consider landing on a call to action (CTA) that invites your audience to take the next step.

How to write a good speech

If public speaking gives you the jitters, you’re not alone. Roughly 80% of the population feels nervous before giving a speech, and another 10% percent experiences intense anxiety and sometimes even panic. 

The fear of failure can cause procrastination and can cause you to put off your speechwriting process until the last minute. Finding the right words takes time and preparation, and if you’re already feeling nervous, starting from a blank page might seem even harder.

But putting in the effort despite your stress is worth it. Presenting a speech you worked hard on fosters authenticity and connects you to the subject matter, which can help your audience understand your points better. Human connection is all about honesty and vulnerability, and if you want to connect to the people you’re speaking to, they should see that in you.

1. Identify your objectives and target audience

Before diving into the writing process, find healthy coping strategies to help you stop worrying . Then you can define your speech’s purpose, think about your target audience, and start identifying your objectives. Here are some questions to ask yourself and ground your thinking : 

• What purpose do I want my speech to achieve? 
• What would it mean to me if I achieved the speech’s purpose?
• What audience am I writing for? 
• What do I know about my audience? 
• What values do I want to transmit? 
• If the audience remembers one take-home message, what should it be? 
• What do I want my audience to feel, think, or do after I finish speaking? 
• What parts of my message could be confusing and require further explanation?

2. Know your audience

Understanding your audience is crucial for tailoring your speech effectively. Consider the demographics of your audience, their interests, and their expectations. For instance, if you're addressing a group of healthcare professionals, you'll want to use medical terminology and data that resonate with them. Conversely, if your audience is a group of young students, you'd adjust your content to be more relatable to their experiences and interests. 

3. Choose a clear message

Your message should be the central idea that you want your audience to take away from your speech. Let's say you're giving a speech on climate change. Your clear message might be something like, "Individual actions can make a significant impact on mitigating climate change." Throughout your speech, all your points and examples should support this central message, reinforcing it for your audience.

4. Structure your speech

Organizing your speech properly keeps your audience engaged and helps them follow your ideas. The introduction should grab your audience's attention and introduce the topic. For example, if you're discussing space exploration, you could start with a fascinating fact about a recent space mission. In the body, you'd present your main points logically, such as the history of space exploration, its scientific significance, and future prospects. Finally, in the conclusion, you'd summarize your key points and reiterate the importance of space exploration in advancing human knowledge.

5. Use engaging content for clarity

Engaging content includes stories, anecdotes, statistics, and examples that illustrate your main points. For instance, if you're giving a speech about the importance of reading, you might share a personal story about how a particular book changed your perspective. You could also include statistics on the benefits of reading, such as improved cognitive abilities and empathy.

6. Maintain clarity and simplicity

It's essential to communicate your ideas clearly. Avoid using overly technical jargon or complex language that might confuse your audience. For example, if you're discussing a medical breakthrough with a non-medical audience, explain complex terms in simple, understandable language.

7. Practice and rehearse

Practice is key to delivering a great speech. Rehearse multiple times to refine your delivery, timing, and tone. Consider using a mirror or recording yourself to observe your body language and gestures. For instance, if you're giving a motivational speech, practice your gestures and expressions to convey enthusiasm and confidence.

8. Consider nonverbal communication

Your body language, tone of voice, and gestures should align with your message . If you're delivering a speech on leadership, maintain strong eye contact to convey authority and connection with your audience. A steady pace and varied tone can also enhance your speech's impact.

9. Engage your audience

Engaging your audience keeps them interested and attentive. Encourage interaction by asking thought-provoking questions or sharing relatable anecdotes. If you're giving a speech on teamwork, ask the audience to recall a time when teamwork led to a successful outcome, fostering engagement and connection.

10. Prepare for Q&A

Anticipate potential questions or objections your audience might have and prepare concise, well-informed responses. If you're delivering a speech on a controversial topic, such as healthcare reform, be ready to address common concerns, like the impact on healthcare costs or access to services, during the Q&A session.

By following these steps and incorporating examples that align with your specific speech topic and purpose, you can craft and deliver a compelling and impactful speech that resonates with your audience.

Tools for writing a great speech

There are several helpful tools available for speechwriting, both technological and communication-related. Here are a few examples:

• Word processing software: Tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or other word processors provide a user-friendly environment for writing and editing speeches. They offer features like spell-checking, grammar correction, formatting options, and easy revision tracking.
• Presentation software: Software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides is useful when creating visual aids to accompany your speech. These tools allow you to create engaging slideshows with text, images, charts, and videos to enhance your presentation.
• Speechwriting Templates: Online platforms or software offer pre-designed templates specifically for speechwriting. These templates provide guidance on structuring your speech and may include prompts for different sections like introductions, main points, and conclusions.
• Rhetorical devices and figures of speech: Rhetorical tools such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, and parallelism can add impact and persuasion to your speech. Resources like books, websites, or academic papers detailing various rhetorical devices can help you incorporate them effectively.
• Speechwriting apps: Mobile apps designed specifically for speechwriting can be helpful in organizing your thoughts, creating outlines, and composing a speech. These apps often provide features like voice recording, note-taking, and virtual prompts to keep you on track.
• Grammar and style checkers: Online tools or plugins like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor help improve the clarity and readability of your speech by checking for grammar, spelling, and style errors. They provide suggestions for sentence structure, word choice, and overall tone.
• Thesaurus and dictionary: Online or offline resources such as thesauruses and dictionaries help expand your vocabulary and find alternative words or phrases to express your ideas more effectively. They can also clarify meanings or provide context for unfamiliar terms.
• Online speechwriting communities: Joining online forums or communities focused on speechwriting can be beneficial for getting feedback, sharing ideas, and learning from experienced speechwriters. It's an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and improve your public speaking skills through collaboration.

Remember, while these tools can assist in the speechwriting process, it's essential to use them thoughtfully and adapt them to your specific needs and style. The most important aspect of speechwriting remains the creativity, authenticity, and connection with your audience that you bring to your speech.

5 tips for writing a speech

Behind every great speech is an excellent idea and a speaker who refined it. But a successful speech is about more than the initial words on the page, and there are a few more things you can do to help it land.

Here are five more tips for writing and practicing your speech:

1. Structure first, write second

If you start the writing process before organizing your thoughts, you may have to re-order, cut, and scrap the sentences you worked hard on. Save yourself some time by using a speech structure, like the one above, to order your talking points first. This can also help you identify unclear points or moments that disrupt your flow.

2. Do your homework

Data strengthens your argument with a scientific edge. Research your topic with an eye for attention-grabbing statistics, or look for findings you can use to support each point. If you’re pitching a product or service, pull information from company metrics that demonstrate past or potential successes. 

Audience members will likely have questions, so learn all talking points inside and out. If you tell investors that your product will provide 12% returns, for example, come prepared with projections that support that statement.

3. Sound like yourself

Memorable speakers have distinct voices. Think of Martin Luther King Jr’s urgent, inspiring timbre or Oprah’s empathetic, personal tone . Establish your voice — one that aligns with your personality and values — and stick with it. If you’re a motivational speaker, keep your tone upbeat to inspire your audience . If you’re the CEO of a startup, try sounding assured but approachable. 

4. Practice

As you practice a speech, you become more confident , gain a better handle on the material, and learn the outline so well that unexpected questions are less likely to trip you up. Practice in front of a colleague or friend for honest feedback about what you could change, and speak in front of the mirror to tweak your nonverbal communication and body language .

5. Remember to breathe

When you’re stressed, you breathe more rapidly . It can be challenging to talk normally when you can’t regulate your breath. Before your presentation, try some mindful breathing exercises so that when the day comes, you already have strategies that will calm you down and remain present . This can also help you control your voice and avoid speaking too quickly.

How to ghostwrite a great speech for someone else

Ghostwriting a speech requires a unique set of skills, as you're essentially writing a piece that will be delivered by someone else. Here are some tips on how to effectively ghostwrite a speech:

• Understand the speaker's voice and style : Begin by thoroughly understanding the speaker's personality, speaking style, and preferences. This includes their tone, humor, and any personal anecdotes they may want to include.
• Interview the speaker : Have a detailed conversation with the speaker to gather information about their speech's purpose, target audience, key messages, and any specific points they want to emphasize. Ask for personal stories or examples they may want to include.
• Research thoroughly : Research the topic to ensure you have a strong foundation of knowledge. This helps you craft a well-informed and credible speech.
• Create an outline : Develop a clear outline that includes the introduction, main points, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Share this outline with the speaker for their input and approval.
• Write in the speaker's voice : While crafting the speech, maintain the speaker's voice and style. Use language and phrasing that feel natural to them. If they have a particular way of expressing ideas, incorporate that into the speech.
• Craft a captivating opening : Begin the speech with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a relevant quote, an interesting fact, a personal anecdote, or a thought-provoking question.
• Organize content logically : Ensure the speech flows logically, with each point building on the previous one. Use transitions to guide the audience from one idea to the next smoothly.
• Incorporate engaging stories and examples : Include anecdotes, stories, and real-life examples that illustrate key points and make the speech relatable and memorable.
• Edit and revise : Edit the speech carefully for clarity, grammar, and coherence. Ensure the speech is the right length and aligns with the speaker's time constraints.
• Seek feedback : Share drafts of the speech with the speaker for their feedback and revisions. They may have specific changes or additions they'd like to make.
• Practice delivery : If possible, work with the speaker on their delivery. Practice the speech together, allowing the speaker to become familiar with the content and your writing style.
• Maintain confidentiality : As a ghostwriter, it's essential to respect the confidentiality and anonymity of the work. Do not disclose that you wrote the speech unless you have the speaker's permission to do so.
• Be flexible : Be open to making changes and revisions as per the speaker's preferences. Your goal is to make them look good and effectively convey their message.
• Meet deadlines : Stick to agreed-upon deadlines for drafts and revisions. Punctuality and reliability are essential in ghostwriting.
• Provide support : Support the speaker during their preparation and rehearsal process. This can include helping with cue cards, speech notes, or any other materials they need.

Remember that successful ghostwriting is about capturing the essence of the speaker while delivering a well-structured and engaging speech. Collaboration, communication, and adaptability are key to achieving this.

Give your best speech yet

Learn how to make a speech that’ll hold an audience’s attention by structuring your thoughts and practicing frequently. Put the effort into writing and preparing your content, and aim to improve your breathing, eye contact , and body language as you practice. The more you work on your speech, the more confident you’ll become.

The energy you invest in writing an effective speech will help your audience remember and connect to every concept. Remember: some life-changing philosophies have come from good speeches, so give your words a chance to resonate with others. You might even change their thinking.

Boost your speech skills

Enhance your public speaking with personalized coaching tailored to your needs

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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The Ultimate Speech Preparation Checklist

by Kolarele Sonaike

You’ll have heard it all before

“fail to plan. plan to fail”, “proper preparation prevents piss poor performance”, “success is what happens when opportunity meets preparation”.

There are lots of pithy pretty quotes that big talking experts like me and others like to trot out to make ourselves seem smart about speech preparation.

In almost ever article or guide on public speaking I’ve read or written, there is always something at some point about the importance of preparation.

It’s all great advice, of course. Preparation is undoubtedly the single most determinative factor in successful public speaking. But there’s one fundamental flaw in all this advice. No one ever tells you how exactly you should go about doing this great preparation.

“What should you do? Where should you start? How long should you spend?”

No one ever breaks it down. We all just operate on the assumption that the process of preparation is obvious. That we just need to say, and it will be done.

But as we all know, when we assume, we make an ass out of u and me, so all assumptions are out.

With apologies for not getting to this sooner, here now is: The Ultimate Speech Preparation Checklist

(It’s a long one so why not DOWNLOAD THE PDF SPEECH PREPARATION CHECKLIST HERE to read later)

• DON’T PANIC. PREPARE! – public speaking is nothing more than a conversation with your audience. If you can hold a good conversation in private with a good friend, you can give a great speech in public. The techniques are almost identical, which means it’s all doable if you approach it right.
• DATE OF MY SPEECH: this will make you think about how much time you have for preparation
• TOPIC OF MY SPEECH: what am I going to speak about?
• LENGTH OF MY SPEECH: how long will I speak for?
• LOCATION OF MY SPEECH: where I’ll be speaking?
• OCCASION: what’s the occasion of my speech? e.g. after dinner speech; presentation to the council; introduction speech at a conference
• TITLE: what is the title of my speech (even if no one will know it, it’s still useful to think about one so your speech has a focus).
• TYPE OF SPEECH: what type of speech are you giving? All speeches fall into one (sometimes two) of four categories: Informative (sharing information); Persuasive (seeking to persuade people to a particular point of view); Motivational (to get your audience to do something); Entertaining (to amuse your audience).
• OBJECTIVE (for your audience): what do you want your audience to get from your speech? What do you want them to know (informative speech), or think (persuasive speech), or do (motivational speech). If you are giving a purely entertainment speech, then your goal is simply to make your audience laugh. or i as a result of your speech (have one clear goal that you can describe in 15 words or less).
• GOAL (for yourself):  what do you want to get out of giving your speech? How do you want it to benefit you personally? e.g. I want to get the respect of the room; I want to be invited to present to the board; I want to be thought of as funny.
• VENUE: what is the venue like? What’s the layout? How far away from the audience will I be? Will I use a microphone? Are there IT facilities (for a slide presentation)?
• THEME: what theme can you use to tie your whole speech together? (often this will be the one thing that your audience remembers above everything else). Think Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ theme. As famous as that speech is, that is probably the only part you still remember. Or JFK’s ‘we choose to go to the moon’. A client of mine recently used the ‘marriage’ theme to give a great presentation about company mergers to a lawyers’ conference.
• AUDIENCE ANALYSIS: who is my audience (age, gender, ethnicity, financial circumstances, industry/profession, personality types etc); what is their attitude (what do they currently think/feel/believe about the topic of my speech); context – how many will be in the audience, how will they be seated, what state of mind will they be in (drowsy after lunch; agitated; uninterested etc).
• MY IMPRESSION: what kind of impression do I want to make? what tone will I take with my speech? how do I want to come across? (serious, funny, casual, meticulous etc).
• RESEARCH & BRAINSTORM:  identify the points you need to research & brainstorm to make sure you are an expert on your topic; find out everything you can about the topic of your speech. Work on the basis that you will only use the best 10% of what you know about the subject in your speech.
• STRUCTURE OF MY SPEECH: how will I open my speech? how will I introduce my audience to my speech topic? what are the main points I am going to make? what will my conclusion be? how will I close my speech?
• NOTES: what notes will I use? (full script; note cards; nothing at all)
• SLIDES/POWERPOINT: (if using slide presentation) are my slides ready? am I prepared to deliver my speech without them in case of an IT failure? have I practised using the slides?
• PROBLEMS: what problems could realistically occur? (not enough people show up; microphone failure; IT failure; my time is cut short etc) and how will I deal with this?
• APPEARANCE: what am I going to wear to help me give the impression I want to give?
• PRACTICE: how much practice will I do (practise as much and as often as it takes for you to familiarise – not memorise – your speech)

There you go: A step by step blue print of how to go about preparing your speech.

No way you can remember all that, so why not get it as a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD here .

Now, if you’ve got this far but you’re somehow still not convinced about the importance of preparation, I leave you with another pithy quote, this time from good ole honest Abe Lincoln.

There you are. Now you have no reason not to prepare. So go sharpen your axe!

[addthis tool=”addthis_relatedposts_inline”] Adieu!

Kolarele Sonaike

Founder, Elevator Pitch School

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How to Prepare and Give a Speech

Last Updated: May 6, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Deb DiSandro . Deb DiSandro is the Owner of Speak Up On Purpose, an organization dedicated to improving and teaching public speaking. Deb has over 30 years of experience as a national speaker and has presented at the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Conference and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. She was awarded the National Speakers Association Member of the Year 2007 and has been published in Writer's Digest, Daily Herald, Women's Day, and Better Homes & Gardens. There are 17 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,153,300 times.

Being asked to prepare and give a speech can seem really intimidating when you've never done it before. Don't worry! You'll be a public speaking pro in no time if you follow these simple tips.

Planning Your Speech

• You may even be able to redirect or add points to your speech with a smaller audience if you notice a number of them are interested in a particular subject or niche.

Writing the Speech

• Try starting the speech writing process by free-writing. Write as much as you can about your subject as fast as you can. Don't worry about judgment or crafting perfect sentences. Once you have your points on paper, you can start refining them and putting them in order.
• Use an anecdote or a quote. Sometimes, someone else has already said it better than you ever will. A quote, provided it hasn't been overused, can help you get things started. Just be sure to look for a quote that is surprising or unique, and always credit your source. [5] X Research source
• Be cautious about opening with a joke unless you know your audience well. You may think that a joke is funny, but your audience may find it humorless or even offensive.

• You can start by looking at generic sources like an encyclopedia or Wikipedia, but you need to fact check your ideas with more authoritative sources after you generally understand your subject.
• Draw on your own experience. If you have a long history with your topic, your experiences and personal stories can be great resources. Just keep these stories succinct so that you don't ramble and lose the audience's attention.

• Use 1 card for the introduction. This card should include your opening statement.
• Use 1 or 2 cards for each supporting point. Then, create 1 card for the conclusion which ties back to the main idea of your speech.
• Write brief sentence fragments or even single words on your cards. These words or fragments should contain key phrases that remind you of what you want to say.
• If you feel insecure or don't know the subject well, write out the words of your speech exactly as you want to say them.

• Keep the visuals to a minimum. You want them to aid your speech, not to overshadow it. Always make sure your speech can stand on its own should technical problems occur.
• Make sure that the audience can read the content of your visuals. Too big is better than not big enough.
• Check the facilities of the room in which you will be speaking. If you need Internet or you need a projection screen, be sure that the facility has the equipment. Arrive to the room early to make sure everything is functional for your speech.

Practicing Your Speech

• If you drive a regular commute, you can also practice a memorized speech while driving. Don't look off of notecards while on the road, though.

• Make sure that your gestures are natural and not too frenetic. Alternatively, don't fix your arms at your sides or keep your hands latched to the podium.
• If you make the speech to a friend or colleague and they offer constructive criticism, try to be open to what they have to say. Make sure they are familiar with your topic or industry, though, or their criticism may do more harm than good.

Getting Ready the Day of Your Speech

• Try to arrive at your presentation well before your audience. Take the time to make sure the sound is good and run through your visual aids. If you're at a conference, you may have 15-20 minutes to prep. If you're the sole speaker, you could get there an hour in advance.

During Your Speech

• Make eye contact with members of your audience. If eye contact is too intense for you, look just above their heads at a point such as a clock or a painting. Remember to look to both sides of the room. Don't favor just the right or left.
• Move your eyes around your audience so that everyone feels included in the presentation.

• Never leave the stage if something goes wrong, even if you feel embarrassed. Make a joke if you can, shake it off, and move forward.

• Be sure to build time for any Q and A into your allotted presentation time. That way, you can control the flow of the Q and A. Then, after the last question, let your audience know, "I'd like to share one final thought with you," and deliver a powerful closer.

How Do You Practice a Speech Effectively?

Samples of Persuasive Speeches

Samples of Informational Speeches

Community Q&A

Reader Videos

• Right before you start speaking, squeeze your butt cheeks together. [15] X Research source Public speaking author Robin Kermode suggests that this can help reduce anxiety. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• It is better to select a topic you are comfortable with. By doing so, you will be less anxious and stressed. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Be loud and clear. Avoid the feeling of inferiority. This will boost up your confidence. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

Things You'll Need

• Written speech or index cards
• Friend, teacher or family member for practicing
• Video recording device
• Computer or tablet for presentations
• Charts and easel for presentations
• Microphone for a large room
• Glass of water
• Appropriate outfit

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_business-communication-for-success/s14-02-choosing-a-topic.html
• ↑ https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/02/tips-speaking
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/oral-comm-lab/audience-analysis
• ↑ https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/trial-practice/practice/2015/5-tips-for-engaging-opening-statements/
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/publicspeaking/chapter/9-2-the-attention-getter-the-first-step-of-an-introduction/
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/structuring-speech
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/visual-aids
• ↑ https://wmich.edu/career/personalcommercial
• ↑ https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/public-speaking-tips/preparing-a-speech
• ↑ https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/record-yourself-improve-your-practice
• ↑ https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/student-life/10-public-speaking-tips/
• ↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ccc-spch-1080-1/chapter/chapter-12-nonverbal-aspects-of-delivery/
• ↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/oralcommunication/guides/tips-for-effective-delivery
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2014/01/28/five-easy-tricks-to-make-your-presentation-interactive/#3b01c83d2586
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/10-quirky-tips-beating-interview-nerves-job
• How to Write a Great Speech: 5 Secrets for Success
• How to Give a Great Speech

About This Article

To prepare and give a speech, start by thinking about the topic, audience, and location of the speech. Write a detailed outline that includes your main topics, supporting points, and facts. Then, transfer the speech to note cards or handouts if necessary. Remember to practice your speech a few times in front of a mirror or a friend, and set a timer to ensure that you aren’t taking too long. On the day of the speech, review your note cards and make sure your presentation, handouts, or other supplementary information is in order. For tips on keeping calm during the speech and examples of different speeches, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Appendix: 3. Speech Preparation

Once you’ve finished putting in place the foundational building blocks of the effective public speaking pyramid, it’s time to start building the second tier. The second tier of the pyramid is focused on the part of the preparation of your speech. At this point, speakers really get to delve into the creation of the speech itself. This level of the pyramid contains three major building blocks: research, organization, and support.

Leo Hidalgo – Research – CC BY-NC 2.0.

If you want to give a successful and effective speech, you’re going to need to research your topic. Even if you are considered an expert on the topic, you’re going to need do some research to organize your thoughts for the speech. Research is the process of investigating a range of sources to determine relevant facts, theories, examples, quotations, and arguments. The goal of research is to help you, as the speaker, to become very familiar with a specific topic area.

We recommend that you start your research by conducting a general review of your topic. You may find an article in a popular-press magazine like Vogue , Sports Illustrated , Ebony , or The Advocate . You could also consult newspapers or news websites for information. The goal at this step is to find general information that can help point you in the right direction. When we read a range of general sources, we’ll start to see names of commonly cited people across articles. Often, the people who are cited across a range of articles are the “thought leaders” on a specific topic, or the people who are advocating and advancing how people think about a topic.

Once you’ve identified who these thought leaders are, we can start searching for what they’ve written and said directly. At this level, we’re going from looking at sources that provide a general overview to sources that are more specific and specialized. You’ll often find that these sources are academic journals and books.

One of the biggest mistakes novice public speakers can make, though, is to spend so much time reading and finding sources that they don’t spend enough time on the next stage of speech preparation. We recommend that you set a time limit for how long you will spend researching so that you can be sure to leave enough time to finish preparing your speech. You can have the greatest research on earth, but if you don’t organize it well, that research won’t result in a successful speech.

Organization

The next step in speech preparation is determining the basic structure of your speech. Effective speeches all contain a basic structure: introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction

The introduction is where you set up the main idea of your speech and get your audience members interested. An effective introduction section of a speech should first capture your audience’s attention. The attention getter might be an interesting quotation from one of your sources or a story that leads into the topic of your speech. The goal is to pique your audience’s interest and make them anticipate hearing what else you have to say.

In addition to capturing your audience’s attention, the introduction should also contain the basic idea or thesis of your speech. If this component is missing, your audience is likely to become confused, and chances are that some of them will “tune out” and stop paying attention. The clearer and more direct you can be with the statement of your thesis, the easier it will be for your audience members to understand your speech.

The bulk of your speech occurs in what we call “the body” of the speech. The body of the speech is generally segmented into a series of main points that a speaker wants to make. For a speech that is less than ten minutes long, we generally recommend no more than two or three main points. We recommend this because when a speaker only has two or three main points, the likelihood that an audience member will recall those points at the conclusion of the speech increases. If you are like most people, you have sat through speeches in which the speaker rambled on without having any clear organization. When speakers lack clear organization with two or three main points, the audience gets lost just trying to figure out what the speaker is talking about in the first place.

To help you think about your body section of your speech, ask yourself this question, “If I could only say three sentences, what would those sentences be?” When you are able to clearly determine what the three most important sentences are, you’ve figured out what the three main points of your speech should also be. Once you have your two or three main topic areas, you then need to spend time developing those areas into segments that work individually but are even more meaningful when combined together. The result will form the body of your speech.

After you’ve finished talking about the two or three main points in your speech, it’s time to conclude the speech. At the beginning of the speech’s conclusion, you should start by clearly restating the basic idea of your speech (thesis). We restate the thesis at this point to put everything back into perspective and show how the three main points were used to help us understand the original thesis.

For persuasive speeches, we also use the conclusion of the speech to make a direct call for people change their thought processes or behaviors (call to action). We save this until the very end to make sure the audience knows exactly what we, the speaker, want them to do now that we’re concluding the speech.

For informative speeches, you may want to refer back to the device you used to gain your audience’s attention at the beginning of the speech. When we conclude back where we started, we show the audience how everything is connected within our speech.

Now that we’ve walked through the basic organization of a speech, here’s a simple way to outline the speech:

• Attention getter
• Thesis statement
• Main point 1
• Main point 2
• Main point 3
• Restate thesis statement
• Call to action
• Refer back to attention getter

You may think that once you’ve developed your basic outline of the speech, the hard part is over, but you’re not done yet. An outline of your speech is like the steel frame of a building under construction. If the frame isn’t structurally sound, the building will collapse, but no one really wants to live in an open steel structure. For this reason, once you’ve finished creating the basic structure of your speech, it’s time to start putting the rest of the speech together, or build walls, floors, and ceilings to create a completed building.

For each of the two or three main points you’ve picked in your speech, you need to now determine how you are going to elaborate on those areas and make them fully understandable. To help us make completed main points, we rely on a range of supporting materials that we discovered during the research phase. Supporting materials help us define, describe, explain, and illustrate the main points we selected when deciding on the speech’s organization. For example, often there are new terms that need to be defined in order for the audience to understand the bulk of our speech. You could use one of the sources you found during the research stage to define the term in question. Maybe another source will then help to illustrate that concept. In essence, at this level we’re using the research to support the different sections of our speech and make them more understandable for our audiences.

Every main point that you have in your speech should have support. For informative speeches, you need to provide expert testimony for why something is true or false. For example, if you’re giving a speech on harmfulness of volcanic gas, you need to have evidence from noted researchers explaining how volcanic gas is harmful. For persuasive speeches, the quality of our support becomes even more important as we try to create arguments for why audience members should change their thought processes or behaviors. At this level, we use our supporting materials as evidence in favor of the arguments we are making. If you’re giving a speech on why people should chew gum after meals, you need to have expert testimony (from dentists or the American Dental Association) explaining the benefits of chewing gum. In persuasive speeches, the quality of your sources becomes very important. Clearly the American Dental Association is more respected than Joe Bob who lives down the street from me. When people listen to evidence presented during a speech, Joe Bob won’t be very persuasive, but the American Dental Association will lend more credibility to your argument.

Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Josh Bernoff

The five stages of speech preparation

Frequent public speakers know that there are five stages of readiness for giving a speech. The trick is not to reach stage 3 and then imagine that you’re done.

Stage 1: The idea

What you have: A concept of what you what you want to say, and in what order. Some stories to tell. A theme.

What you need: Exactly the right stuff, in exactly the right order.

How to get there: Write it down, share it, or blog it. Get feedback. Tell the story to people informally and see how they react.

Stage 2: The images

What you have: Exactly the right images in exactly the right order.

What you need: The voiceover that goes with the images.

How to get there: Write down a bunch of speaker notes. Rehearse it. See how it goes together.

Stage 3: The confidence

What you have: The script that goes with the images.

What you need: Enough familiarity that you know exactly what’s about to come up each time you press the advance button.

How to get there: Practice. A lot. Preferably with some captive, friendly audiences, like your coworkers.

Stage 4: The emotion

What you have: The ability to give the speech, flawlessly, like a robot.

What you need: The ability to win over an audience.

How to get there: Start figuring out how to modulate your voice to tell the story — when to be fast, when slow, when loud, when soft, when to move and where on stage.

Stage 5: The brilliance

What you have: The ability not just to give the speech, but to perform it.

What you need: To find the soul of the speech and riff on it, constantly improving what’s good to make it incredible.

How to get there: Perform the speech. A lot. Get so comfortable that you can ad-lib.

The cool thing is when you know the content so well that one part of your mind can perform it, while the other observes and determines what moves to make next.

Is this what it’s like to act? To play music? To dance? I don’t know, I don’t do those things, but I’d like to hear from people who do.

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Years ago, when I joined my first Toastmaster’s Club, they handed me a videotape and told me that my first 10 speeches would be recorded for my own use. I would run home after giving a speech, and pop my cassette into the VCR. I’d hit rewind and watch my speech fast- backwards, with no sound. My sweeping gestures weren’t sweeping — I looked like a baby bird trying to fly — elbows glued to my side. When I listened to the video with sound, I caught all the noises one makes to fill silences (ah, um, so, and, then…). We are our own worst critics, but that’s how we improve. I learned to divide a talk into chunks and practice the transitions. I began to keep some segments “in my pocket”– ready to be tossed out or added in as time allowed. I subscribe to Craig Valentine (online speech coach) and enjoy his advanced tips delivered in bite-sized chunks with lots of humor. Learning to speak in front of an audience is a true skill, worthy of honing.

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Speech Writing: How to write a speech in 5 steps

Every great speech starts with an idea, be it for school or work or a TED talk about your area of speciality. We investigate how to get all those ideas from your head to a written speech and then back to your heart. Author of “ How to be Brilliant at Public Speaking “, Sarah Lloyd-Hughes explains the five steps of speech writing…

Even heads of state and other renowned orators have help in writing a speech. They often have professional speech writers to provide them with great content, but you too can learn not only how to talk but also how to  write  a speech like a pro.

Here are 5 steps that we take our speakers through when they’re writing a speech – and it’s the same process as we use for writing  TED  style talks.

Speech writing step 1: Get focused

TED talks famously focus on ‘one idea worth spreading’ and this is what helps them to retain their power. Before you write a single line, figure out what the ONE idea is that you’ll shape your talk around.

When your talk has a single focus you’ll see huge benefits:

• Clarity:  For yourself and your audience.
• Easy to pass on:  Popular talks, like Simon Sinek’s TED talk ‘ How great leaders inspire action ‘ or Ken Robinson’s TED favourite ‘ Do schools kill creativity? ‘ are utterly focused and easy to pass on because they have just one idea.
• Powerful:  When you’re digging in one hole you get deeper, likewise with your talk you can go further with one idea.
• Memorability:  Audiences these days are overwhelmed with ideas and information. You need to be  much  simpler than you think to stand a chance of your message being remembered.

To find your ‘idea worth spreading’ takes a little time and skill, which is why we’ve  devised a complete programme for speakers who are interested in writing  World Class  Speeches ,  like the finest TED speakers.

But if you’re just looking for a place to start, these questions will help you get going:

• What do I want to say?
• What effect am I trying to have by speaking?
• If I can only put across  one  message in my speech, what will that be?
• What is my broader purpose in speaking?

You’re looking for one idea that is clear, interesting and hasn’t been heard before. Good luck!

Speech writing step 2: Think about your audience

Ironically, most speakers completely fail to think about their audience! Yet the best speakers are intimately aware of the needs, questions and doubts facing their audience.

Ask: To whom am I speaking?  Before you start writing you first must ask yourself  Who is my audience  and  what are they seeking ? Writing a speech for a group of human rights activists would be very different to a speech for business managers. Technology engineers might have a totally different perspective on your subject than a room full of English professors.  Thinking deeply about your audience’s needs is the quality of a public speaker I call  Empathy.  It’s an important starting point on your speech writing journey.

Ask: Why should they listen to you?  Great speech writing is grounded in purpose and message. Consider what qualifies you to speak; what you have to offer the audience that they would not be able to hear from anyone else (we all have something).

Ask: What do you want to leave your audience with?  As a result of your Empathetic investigations, what would be your desired outcome as a result of the speech? Decide what your main message will be and continually return to that primary point as you compose your speech. This keeps the audience (and you) focused. As Winston Churchill said:  “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time with a tremendous whack. ”

Speech writing step 3: Build up your speech

Now you have a clear focus to your speech and an idea of how to communicate that clearly to your audience. That’s the skeleton of the speech. It’s now time to fill in that skeleton with meaty content:

• Brain Storming.  Make lists of all the things you want to speak about. Once listed, it will be easier to cut or rearrange your points.
• Categorize for the win.  Brainstorming should lead to a nice list with several categories. Speech writing is all about organization and finding what fits best with your audience and their needs. Think of these categories as stepping stones. Leaving a gap too large between any two stones and they will turn into stumbling blocks will sinking you and your audience. Speech writing is not very much different than writing a paper; thesis statement, support of the thesis, and a conclusion.
• Edit for the jewels . Look for the key moments in your speech that will stimulate the hearts, minds and even stomachs of your audience. Seek the most vivid experiences and stories that you can use to make your point – these are what will make your speech stand out from all the other public speaking our there.

Speech writing step 4: Create a journey

Another key skill of speech writing is to get the right information in the right order. Think of your speech like a journey up a mountain:

Get ready for the trip (introduction).

• The beginning of your speech is the place where you grab the attention of the audience and get them ready to go on a journey with you. For them to travel up your mountain with you they need to know where you’re going together, why it’s an interesting journey to go on and why you are a credible guide to lead them there.

Pass some interesting sights on the way (main body).

• Keep an audience engaged for an entire speech by raising the stakes, or raising the tension as you progress through the speech. Think about contrasts between the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ of your subject matter and contrast the two with stories, facts, ideas or examples.
• Here you might write multiple sections to your speech, to help you stay focused. You might like to write an introduction, main body, and conclusion for each section also. All sections don’t have to be the same length. Take time to decide and write about the ones that need the most emphasis.

Reach your summit (climax).

• The climax is the moment of maximum emotional intensity that most powerfully demonstrates your key message. Think of the key ‘Ahah!’ moment that you want to take your audience to. This is the moment where you reach the top of your mountain and marvel at the view together. It’s a powerful, but underused speech writing tool.

A speedy descent (the close).

• Once you’ve hit your climax, the story is almost over. We don’t want to go all the way down the mountain with you, we’d much rather get airlifted off the top of the mountain whilst we still have the buzz of reaching our goal. This is what great speech writing manages time and again.
• Strangely enough the close can be the hardest part of speech writing. Here’s where you get to hit home your action point – the key thing you want your audience to do differently as a result of listening to your speech. Often the close is where speakers undermine the power of the rest of their speech. So, write a memorable conclusion that captures the essence of your speech, give it some punch, and  stick  to it!

Speech writing step 5: Test your material

Practice your speech several times so that you can feel comfortable with the material. Try the speech out on camera or to a friend to see which parts are most powerful and which you can take the red pen to.

However skilled you are (or not) at speech writing, remember that you are the magic that makes the speech work. It’s your authentic voice that will shine to the audience them and inspire them towards your message.

Follow these speech writing tips, give it some practice and you’ll be sure to be a speech writing winner.

But I’ve collected my years of experience working with world-class conference speakers and TED speakers and distilled it into a  simple guidebook that you can access now for just £20 (+VAT) .

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7 steps to prepare a speech in a surprisingly short time

Most of my clients are entrepreneurs, CEOs or working in other leadership positions. I also meet many small business entrepreneurs. One common thread is that they’re very busy. Successful leaders are mindful about how they spend every single minute.

It’s no surprise then, that when these leaders are asked to speak in public, the one thing they are thinking is:

How do I prepare a speech in as little time as possible?

They realise very well that speaking well is important , and that preparation is necessary to deal with speaking anxiety . They just want to do it efficiently.

Today I’d like to share with you an excerpt of my CEO playbook for delivering speeches. The section on preparation contains tips that are useful to anyone looking to prepare a speech in half the time while doubling their impact .

I’ve compiled them into a handy list of 7 steps:

The 7 steps to efficiently prepare a speech

The steps are:

• Identify your purpose . Why are you speaking?
• Know your audience. What are their aspirations, pains, …?
• Add significance. Why should the audience care?
• Define your clear message. What should your audience remember?
• Establish your structure . Develop a middle part with one or two points supported by an anecdote, story, and preferably backed up by facts and data.
• Prepare a strong opening and a strong ending .

1. Define your purpose

For a speech to be effective, it must have a clear goal. A goal also helps you focus while creating the speech.

Ask yourself: do you mainly want to…

Note: these goals may overlap, and one does not exclude another. But one must be your main goal.

2. Know your audience

In order to connect with your audience during speeches, it is important to be able to place yourself in their shoes. Only from this perspective can you truly communicate understanding and establish rapport.

To know your audience is to engage your audience.

The Empathy Map is a handy technique from the world of user experience and marketing, where it is used to better understand potential or existing customers. It works remarkably well when you prepare a speech, too.

The big idea is to go over the different areas in the map and come up with the elements that create your listeners’ mental world in relation to the topic.

Suppose you are to deliver a speech on the use of sugar in processed foods. Some questions the empathy map would trigger are:

• What do they think about the use of sugar and how does it make them feel ?
• What do they hear about sugar from their environment or in the news?
• What do they see when it comes to sugar, e.g. in terms of advertising or packaging?
• What do they say about sugar to their peers? What do they do – what actions do they take (or not take)?
• What  pain, or significant disadvantages, do they associate with sugar?
• What  gain, or significant advantages, do they associate with sugar?

Note that the answers to some of these questions will overlap. Don’t worry about that — this is just a brainstorming tool to trigger relevant information stored in your memory. The point is not to organise information in any neat way.

Try it, even if it’s for 5 minutes! You’ll be surprised how helpful the answers are for:

• finding an angle
• finding the right words
• creating goodwill
• overcoming resistance
• and much more.

3. Add significance

Why significance is key when you prepare a speech.

Crafting any good story starts with the why . What’s the point exactly?

There’s a saying in public speaking: you win the heart before you win the mind. Knowing the  why of your speech is essential in accomplishing that.

Speakers engage an audience by being significant; by creating meaning. Audiences feel engaged when they have the feeling the talk is also about them. A great example is Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. The audience did not come to see Martin Luther King, they came because they identified with his ideas. They felt his speech was about them, their lives, and their dreams.

That explains the importance of step 2: Know your audience. You can only add significance if you have a clear image of the receiving end of your speech.

How to find your speech’s significance

To find the significance of your speech, ask yourself the following questions when you prepare a speech:

• Why am I giving this speech?
• What do I believe, that I want to share? What do I stand for?
• So what?! Why should my audience care?

4. Define your clear message

Today, people are flooded with information. There is an image circulating on the web which goes so far to say that a person today receives more information in a day than a person in the middle ages in his entire life!

True or not, we can all agree that in a device-rich world, the information intake has never been more intense.

How does that translate to speeching? Well: to make your speech memorable, I suggest you focus on extracting one key message .

Your key message should be as simple as possible, regardless of the complexity of the issues and topics at hand. It will consist of one or two phrases that express your main point.

If that sounds daunting, let’s look at a model that can help.

The Message House model is a time-tested PR tool to condense complex stories into a thematic ‘house’. This house is made of a set of three messages that together form the overarching key message (called the Umbrella Statement in the model).

The Core Messages on the second level represent your Umbrella Statement, but in greater detail. They can be supporting arguments, sequential steps to take, conditional statements, descriptive (think: who, what, where, when, why and how), or of another kind.

Finally, the lower part of the house provides evidence, proof points and support. This is the foundation of your story.

How to use the Message House

In some cases, your Umbrella Statement (that’s your key message) will be very clear to you. If that’s so, it’s useful to come up with the 3 Core Messages that make up the Umbrella Statement.

At other times, you’ll have 2 or 3 messages in mind as you prepare a speech. In that case, consider those your Core messages and start to look for the single Umbrella Statement.

Examples of Umbrella Statements and their Core Messages

• Employees lose time and energy in traffic.
• Some employees report they feel less productive in larger office spaces.
• Candidates for jobs that are hard to fill, are not attracted to our current policy.
• First, I will introduce the idea at the annual shop owner’ meeting.
• Then, I will have the team communicate the exact steps to each shop owner.
• Finally, our sales representatives will check each shop they visit.
• The Polish and Swedish teams did exceptionally well.
• May and June were top periods for sales.
• Orange bicycles are super popular and account for a large part of the profits.

5. Establish your structure

The way you organise information is essential if you want your audience to follow and understand your speech. Ideas must be put together in an orderly manner.

I therefore recommend every speaker to use an  outline as the backbone for their speech.

An outline is simply 10,000 feet view of your speech. It’s as if you would zoom out completely and see the major turns your speech takes.

Why use an outline?

That’s easy: our brains are simply not capable of creating quality content from beginning to end.

Compare it to cooking a meal. Imagine yourself standing in front of different foods. Without thinking ahead, you grab a couple of ingredients and start cutting, cleaning and preparing them.

Unless you’re an experienced chef, that won’t result in a remarkable meal, will it? Without a gameplan to prepare a speech, the end result of your creation will be underwhelming.

Here are a few general directions your outlines can take. These are based on effective storytelling principles:

• Problem – pathway – solution
• Problem – solution – reasoning
• Situation – complication – solution
• Past – present – future

After you’ve decided on the general direction, flesh out your outline. See if you can describe your speech in ten to fifteen bullets. Refer to your Message House (see previous point) to make sure your outline includes your Core messages.

What structure works best for your purpose? Do you have a preference? Try a few structures for your speeches and choose the one that is most persuading.

Related article: How to structure a victory speech in three steps

Next, integrate even more storytelling. Your bigger picture might be represented by a story, but can you integrate ‘mini-stories’ to illustrate specific points?

6. Prepare a strong opening and strong ending

Scientific research shows it again and again. If you ask people to rate a certain experience they had recently, they will base a lot of their opinion on how it began and how it ends. Looking back at an experience, whatever happens in the middle seems to carry less weight for us.

A classic example is a visit to a restaurant. Smart restaurant owners focus extra on doing two things impeccably: the welcoming and the dessert. Although they pay great attention to the overall experience, of course, they know that a sloppy greeting of their guests, or a below-standard dessert, can easily spoil their guests’ memory of the whole evening.

For you, it means it’s smart to think twice about how you open and how you close.

Ideas for a strong opening

Here are a few angles to inspire you in crafting your opening:

• ‘Start with a bang’: use a quote, bold claim or striking fact, or ask a question.
• ‘So what?’: Go straight to the point and open with why your audience should care.
• ‘Introduce yourself’: But do it in a compelling way. Tell a juicy story. What would the tabloids write about you?
• Make the purpose clear – What impact do you want to achieve?

Ideas for a memorable ending

• Repeat your Key Message. Think ‘key takeaway’. This is a natural-feeling and effective way to make a firm point.
• Refer to the beginning. Most good stories develop in a circular way. A problem introduced in the beginning gets solved in the end. Balance gets restored; etcetera.
• Present a call-to-action . If you want your audience to take a certain action, always end with that.

7. Rehearse

1. write out, practice and tweak (optional).

At this point, you could write out your speech in full text – if you have the time.

Read your text out loud for a few times until you’re comfortable with the content. You will probably still tweak a few parts.

If you don’t have the time, or you feel comfortable working with just bullet points, feel free to skip to step 2!

I do highly recommend you write out your opening and ending.

2. Bring back to bullet points and practice again

Once on stage, you don’t want to hold the full text of your speech in your hand. You will be tempted to look at it often, which will break your connection with the audience.

So now, reduce your text to a list of main points, keywords, facts and anecdotes. And practice your speech again. Refer back your outline from step 5 for the general structure.

This will also help you memorise the speech completely by heart faster.

Do I have to know my whole speech by heart, you ask?

My answer is: not necessarily. But as just mentioned, do know your opening and ending from the inside out.

3. Take your practice to the next level

Here are my rehearsing tips for the best results:

• Record yourself . Most beginning speakers find this tough, but it’s an essential way of spotting weaknesses in your speaking and improving them.
• Practice for real people. The gap between practising in front of a mirror and practising in front of a crowd is just too large. Practice for a small group of colleagues or family members to get used to the stress that comes with having an audience.
• Ask for specific feedback. If you practice in front of people, help them evaluate you by asking them specific questions. It could be the content, your body language, or your opening. Anything you feel you need feedback on.
• Rehearse often. Once you’re happy with your speech’s content and your performance, practice your speech ten times – if you have that luxury of time. If you need more practice, go for it. There’s no better confidence booster as knowing you’ve rehearsed your speech until it hurt 🙂

That’s it!

Although I could elaborate on each on the above points, this provides you with a larger plan to optimally prepare a speech.

Are you a busy professional looking for a speaker coach to get you from good to great in the most efficient way. Look no further. I am here to help all my clients achieve exactly that.

“I knew that Elizabeth really understands what I want to achieve and whom I want to reach, and that she is a bad-ass coach with mad skills. When I was asked to give a keynote at an event, I was determined to really take my talk to the next level. So it was a no-brainer to work with her. Could I have done it on my own? Perhaps, but it would have taken me more time, stress and effort and I would not have achieved the same results. Working with a coach who you can trust, like Elizabeth, creates an extremely comfortable starting position, which made me step onto the stage on the Big Day without any nerves.” – Anouck Meier, CEO of Ampersand

Book your free call via this link. 

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• / Preparing a Speech

Preparing a Speech

• Organize your speech in a logical sequence: opening, main points, summary.
• Practice and rehearse a speech frequently prior to delivering it. Ask friends to be your audience, or practice in front of a mirror. Be sure to use a timer to help you pace your speech.
• Become familiar with the stage or the setting where the speech will take place. Get a sense of the size of the stage, where any steps or obstacles might be, and where to enter and exit.
• Choose comfortable clothes to wear , but always maintain a professional appearance.
• Visual aids should fit a speech, whether they are funny, serious or technical. The main goal of visual aids is to help the audience understand what is being said, and reinforce the points of a speech in unique and interesting ways.

Helpful Resources

5 simple tips to better speechwriting.

An easy formula for figuring out what to say.

How to Build a Speech

Structure, stories, and word choice are all key to crafting a compelling presentation.

Speech Topics Are Everywhere

Pay attention to your life and the ideas will come.

10 Tips for more productive speech practice.

Building a Great Speech

Gain valuable tips for constructing a presentation from start to finish.

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• Delivery Techniques →

How to Give a Speech: 10 Tips for Powerful Public Speaking

When we start preparing to give a speech, it can be a nerve-wracking experience. It’s completely normal—most of us feel a combination of excitement and nerves when we’re about to take the stage.

However, with some strategic planning and practical advice, you can make sure your speech is powerful and effective. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to give a speech that will leave your audience engaged and inspired.

We’ll examine 10 tips to help you build a powerful speech, from outlining your points methodically to crafting captivating introductions . Whether you’re a beginner or experienced public speaker, these nuggets of wisdom will help you take your next speech to the next level. Let’s get started!

Quick Review of Key Points

Preparing ahead of time is the key to giving an effective speech. Make sure to structure your speaking points, rehearse your delivery, and be aware of the needs of your audience for maximum impact.

How to Prepare for a Speech

Preparing for a speech is an essential step to public speaking success. It can help to build your confidence, create content that reaches the audience, and reduce performance anxiety.

Although it can be time-consuming in the beginning, preparation will ensure less stress and more comfort during delivery. Here are some tips to consider when preparing for a speech:

Practice : Before delivering a speech, practice it out loud several times. This will allow you to gain experience in speaking without an audience and increase your confidence when you do have one.

Practicing also helps to identify awkward moments in the speech or any difficult phrases which then can be changed or removed altogether. Additionally, it helps you determine where to pause for effect. Research : Depending on the topic of the speech , research should be done beforehand to gather information that is relevant and interesting for the audience. It is important to get acquainted with the language typically used by audiences to ensure a clear understanding of what is being said.

Additionally, relevant statistics and stories concerning the topic are a great way to draw in listeners and make the presentation more engaging .

Know Your Audience : When preparing your speech, be sure to consider who will be listening. For instance, if giving a presentation at work, include industry jargon that members would understand and include relevant topics from publications that might be familiar to the employees.

On the other hand, if consulting business professionals in their field then technical language may be easier for them to comprehend than laypeople or students.

By gathering valuable information about the topic and getting comfortable with a speech’s content and delivery through practice, speakers will gain more assurance during their talk as well as respect from their audience.

Preparing beforehand not only gives insight into how to engage listeners but also encourages more meaningful conversations after the event. Now that we have discussed how to prepare for a speech let us move on to creating an outline which will provide structure during delivery.

Create an Outline

After determining the audience and purpose of your speech, the next step to effective public speaking is to create an outline .

An outline serves as a roadmap to ensure that your speech has a logical flow and contains all important points. It also can help keep you on track during the speech itself, allowing you to stay focused and organized.

When constructing an outline, consider drawing up both a main point and sub-points for each portion of the speech. Both should be relevant to the goal of the presentation and backed up by facts and research.

Brainstorming can help in this process; try grouping your ideas together in clusters to make sure you cover all possible angles.

Furthermore, writing out exact quotations or figures can prove beneficial in forming a cohesive argument. At this stage, it is also wise to decide where transitions, humor, stories, or other engaging techniques will be included.

While there are differing opinions as to whether outlines should be memorized or simply used as a reference while speaking, many agree that they should serve their purpose – not only articulate the main thoughts of the speech but also assist the speaker with maintaining focus and preventing distractions.

The debate between those who advocate for memorization versus casual consulting touches upon issues such as rehearsal time, risk of errors in delivery, ease of practice versus actual performance and more.

Each side has valid arguments that should be weighed prior to deciding what type of approach best suits your needs.

Having a firmly constructed outline acts as a valuable tool when it comes time to deliver a powerful public speech. By actively utilizing this tactic, speakers may not only enhance their clarity and coherence, but also add structure and vibrance to their presentations.

Now that we have explored what goes into crafting an effective outline, let’s dive deeper into how we can best collect resources and research our topics for maximum impact.

Collect Sources and Research

Collecting sources and research is a crucial step for any public speaking engagement. It ensures that you have the necessary information to make strong points and back up your statements.

Before writing your speech, take time to research your topic to gain familiarity with different perspectives, facts, and counterpoints. This will help you to craft an argument that can stand up to scrutiny while also adding a breadth of knowledge to your speech.

Interviews can be a powerful source of evidence and anecdotes, so try to include one or two relevant interviews in your research process. Relying solely on secondary sources such as books and articles can lead to a narrow scope of understanding.

Interviews provide an opportunity to hear directly from an expert and create an interesting dynamic in your speech by adding personal experiences as well as commentary from a professional.

In research it is important to stay objective. Gather a variety of perspectives and be open-minded about their merits. Don’t forget to consider both sides of the argument when researching for your speech.

Doing this allows you to understand the opposing perspective and enables you to anticipate potential counter arguments from your audience.

By acknowledging them beforehand, you may increase the persuasive power of your speech by showing confidence in the points you make.

Once you have collected all sources, review them carefully and separate the most pertinent information from the less useful material.

Synthesising this information into concise yet impactful points is a critical part in delivering powerful talks without overloading your audience with too much data or going off track during your speech delivery.

Organizing Your Speech

Before you start putting your words together, it’s important to consider how the different parts of a speech fit together. By taking the time to organize the ideas in your speech , you’ll be able to deliver a presentation that is well-constructed and easy to understand.

One way to help with organizing your speech is to write an outline . An outline is like a map or plan that will provide you with a framework for each section of your speech.

Start by writing out your main points and then include additional details underneath each one. This will help keep your speech focused and provide direction for where you are going next.

Another approach for organizing your speech is known as the “inverted pyramid” method. This structure starts with your conclusion at the beginning of the speech, and then works backward by providing more explanation and detail as it moves toward the introduction.

This method can be helpful when speaking about topics that are unfamiliar to the audience since it doesn’t require them to wait until near the end of the presentation to learn what you’ve been talking about.

No matter which organization approach you choose, make sure to practice it before giving your speech so that you are comfortable with its flow. Lastly, remember that it’s ok to adjust things while you speak if they don’t seem or feel quite right.

Now let’s take a look at how we can use these organizing techniques to actually put our speeches together – starting with structuring our speech.

Structure Your Speech

Creating a strong structure for your speech will ensure that the audience stays engaged and understands your main points. As you are developing an outline, map out how you want to begin and end your speech.

Break up the information into smaller sections with either verbal or visual cues so that your audience can clearly see how you are transitioning between topics . Consider adding humor judiciously throughout your presentation as this could help engage the audience and lighten any tension.

The length of your presentation is also important. You will want to make sure that you include all of the necessary information without going over time.

Oftentimes less is more; if you can say it in five minutes why use ten? Make sure that you practice timed rehearsals so that you can gauge how long you’re actually speaking.

In contrast, avoid trying to pack too much content into one presentation as this could overwhelm both you and the audience. If needed, offer supplemental reading materials for those who may be interested in delving further into the subject matter.

Paragraphs can also be helpful when organizing large amounts of content within the body of your presentation. Utilizing paragraph breaks gives your audience a break and helps to highlight key ideas or summaries before moving onto a new topic area.

Finally, it is crucial to remember what your desired outcome is from the presentation; plan accordingly by ensuring that the beginning, middle, and end serve their respective purposes and adhere to that goal.

With careful deliberations, structuring a successful presentation can be achieved with relative ease.

Having established a solid structure for your speech, it’s important to focus on another key element: rehearsal. The next section will discuss the benefits of practicing before delivering a powerful public speaking performance.

Rehearse Your Speech

Rehearsing is integral to giving a successful speech. When you rehearse your presentation, you give your mind an opportunity to become familiar with the notes and concepts that you are presenting. It also increases your confidence and reduces anxiety or self-doubt.

In fact, studies have found that those who rehearsed their presentation had higher scores in public speaking performance and language proficiency evaluations.

When it comes to how much rehearsal is enough, opinions are divided. Some people believe that over-rehearsing can lead to a more robotic speech with less natural emotion and connection with the audience .

On the other hand, others argue that no matter how well-versed someone is on the topic, additional rehearsal time improves both the delivery of the speech and memorization of key points and facts.

Ultimately, it’s important to practice until you personally find the most comfortable level for yourself, as this will ultimately result in a more engaging delivery.

Finally, if at all possible, try to practice in front of a friend or colleague for honest feedback on any elements that need improvement before the big day. Rehearsal dedication may be tedious, but it results in big rewards on stage–enabling you to deliver your content with clarity, confidence, and poise.

With thoughtful preparation complete, it’s now time to step into the spotlight and give your speech!

Giving Your Speech

The key to success when giving a speech is to be well prepared and confident. Every individual’s preparation process will vary, but the basics should stay the same.

Start by studying your content, understanding the material and being able to repeat it in your own words. Clarify any potentially difficult points. Create visual aids like PowerPoint slides or handouts that supplement the key ideas in your speech.

Practice your public speaking skills with informal conversations with friends and family or rehearse it alone in front of a mirror. Use visualization; imagine yourself confidently delivering your speech. Consider addressing a practice audience if possible to become more accustomed to a live size group.

On the day of the event, arrive early and plan for any potential obstacles: What if my computer doesn’t work? What if I forget something? Allow sufficient time for setup and check-in.

When you are ready to give your speech, take some deep breaths, focus on the positives, and distract yourself from any anxious thoughts with positive affirmations. Remember you have prepared diligently for this moment, you are well prepared and you will succeed!

Start strong by engaging the audience immediately with an attention grabbing opening statement. Speak clearly and make sure that everyone can hear and understand your message.

Slow down and emphasize points as needed throughout your presentation. Be aware of pace, volume, and tone of voice: too fast/monotone can confuse/bore listeners while pauses add a dramatic effect that keeps their interest piqued.

Ultimately, giving a successful speech will depend on knowing your material well enough to speak confidently in front of your audience without hesitation or missteps.

When you do make a mistake (and they happen!) don’t panic – know that mistakes are inevitable but don’t be discouraged; get back on track as soon as possible and continue at the same energy level you had before the mistake occurred.

Having successfully given your speech, take a moment to reflect on what went well and what could be improved upon for next time before transitioning into the next step: mastering delivery.

Master Your Delivery

Mastering your delivery is the key to an effective speech. Without purposeful body language and careful emphasis on certain words , your speech may lack wow-factor and prevent listeners from tuning in. Following these simple tips can help you get started with delivering an engaging and memorable speech:

The most important part of delivery is practice. Rehearse and perfect your speech ahead of time – this allows for more natural flow and confidence during your presentation. It also helps to create pauses between sentences for clarity, emphasize key points, and not be too casual or stiff.

Practicing inflections and varying tones adds interest to your speech by keeping listeners’ attention.

Additionally, it’s important to project your voic e so everyone in the room can hear you; make sure you’re speaking loud enough but don’t feel pressure to shout or yell at any point unless that’s part of the atmosphere of the event.

It’s also crucial to maintain good posture while speaking – stand tall with both feet on the ground, keep your back straight, hold yourself up without gesturing too much or leaning against a podium if applicable.

To further engage listeners, use purposeful hand gestures as they help emphasize certain points and add visual interest – however, avoid overusing them as it can hinders communication.

Make meaningful eye contact with audience members throughout the presentation – otherwise you might come across as unenthusiastic or bored with what you’re saying which deters attention away from the content itself.

By mastering your delivery, you can boost the impact of your presentation considerably – providing a memorable experience for your audience that stands out from others’. As such, it’s worth investing time into practicing ahead of time until delivery feels comfortable and second nature.

Having said this, making use of visual aids such as PowerPoint slides can greatly improve the impact of a speech once delivery has been mastered – let’s look into that next.

Use Visual Aids

Using visual aids can help presenters express concepts more clearly and engage the audience.

Visuals are particularly useful when conveying complex information, such as data, trends, or statistics — they impart meaning at a glance. But some public speakers may wonder if visual aids can be distracting or unnecessary.

Even though visuals can attract attention away from a presenter’s verbal delivery, carefully designed visuals can actually support the speech and help provide clarity. If done well, visuals are effective for capturing an audience’s interest and helping them to better understand the content being presented.

For example, a graph or chart should relate to the points made in the speech and should be discussed in more detail during its appearance onscreen. The presentation can also include larger images that effectively reinforce the ideas conveyed in the speech.

Videos and sound clips are other powerful forms of multimedia that could be employed to make the speech more meaningful.

To ensure that visuals enhance the message of the presentation, key factors to consider include relevancy to topic, good graphic design or aesthetics, accurate size to prevent distortion or blurriness, and seamless integration into the keynote slides or printed handouts .

In this way, visuals offer an opportunity for presenters to demonstrate their creativity and keep their audiences interested in what is being said. Thus, used wisely and aptly, visuals can add tremendous value to speeches by presenting arguments more efficiently and driving home important points. Now let’s explore effective techniques for speech giving that will allow you to craft and deliver your speeches with confidence.

Effective Techniques for Speech Giving

There are a number of effective techniques for giving a speech that will help you deliver it with confidence and poise.

First, practice your delivery in advance. You should practice both in front of a mirror or recording device to check for any distracting habits such as talking too quickly or mispronouncing words.

Second, use simple, clear language and short, concise sentences. Avoid overly technical terms and jargon that may leave your audience confused.

Third, work to establish a connection with your audience by using appropriate facial expressions and hand gestures while speaking.

Fourth, utilize effective persuasive techniques such as presenting evidence, strong arguments supported by facts, personal anecdotes and vivid metaphors.

Finally, articulate an organized structure for your speech. Your speech should have an introduction, body and conclusion to clearly communicate the main point and provide the audience with the necessary context to understand it better.

While these techniques may sound intimidating at first, they can be learned over time with practice and will make all the difference in how successful your speech delivery is received by your audience.

To build on these skills further , the next section will provide tips on how to build confidence when giving a speech.

Building Confidence

Building confidence is key when giving a powerful speech, as it will enable you to deliver the speech in a more poised and credible manner.

To create this confidence , start by understanding that any hesitation or butterflies prior to your speech are completely normal and should not be feared. Instead, view them as natural states of anticipation for something exciting, knowing that you are about to give an amazing speech.

Next, understanding who your audience is and tailoring your speech to meet their expectations will help build your confidence.

Familiarizing yourself with their interests and knowledge on the subject matter ahead of time can equip you with the understanding needed to respond appropriately if questions arise or objections surface during the speech.

Further, practice is key when building confidence for a public speaking engagement . Rehearsing with friends or colleagues before hand will give you an opportunity to learn where problem areas are within the content of your speech, as well as help solidify your delivery by becoming more comfortable with each step.

Checking sound levels in the room you’re presenting in coupled with learning where exits/emergency locations are located within that space can also help alleviate stress levels and boost self-assurance while delivering the speech.

Finally, wearing comfortable clothing and dressing professionally adds an extra layer of confidence when speaking in public.

If possible, bring an additional outfit on hand during the presentation in case of spills or accidents that would require a quick change between sections of the talk. Having this back-up plan in place can aid in keeping peace of mind at ease throughout the speech.

In conclusion, building confidence prior to a public speaking event can mean the difference between a good and great delivery of your message.

By taking into account each of these tips you can ensure that this part of your preparation runs smoothly and sets you up for success when delivering powerful speeches.

With a well-crafted note card of talking points and strong sense of self-assurance, it’s time to start speaking with passion!

Speaking with Passion

As a public speaker, your audience expects you to engage not only with your words but also with your emotions. To share the most impactful message, it is important to speak passionately about your subject.

Doing so will make your speech more memorable and thereby more effective in convincing your audience of its legitimacy.

The power of speaking authentically with emotion lies in its relatability and connection. Showing feelings allows people to connect with you as a person rather than just a speaker. It opens the door to understanding through empathy and active listening .

Examples might include adding personal stories , telling jokes, or displaying your feelings openly during the delivery of your message.

However, not all topics lend themselves easily to expressing emotion. If the subject matter is overly complex or technical there may be less opportunity for emotional expression—but this doesn’t mean those conversations can’t incorporate emotion.

Even if faced with a difficult situation such as death or financial turmoil, emotions can still be conveyed in a respectful way that keeps audiences engaged.

Remember that how much emotion you show depends on the type of audience you’re sharing it with—using sensitivity when delivering passionate speeches helps avoid awkwardness or embarrassment for any attendees who may find opinionated language uncomfortable for whatever reason.

Striking the right balance between being straightforward and showing compassion takes practice, so take the time to develop a style that works best for you and improves upon each performance.

Finally, incorporating passion into a speech gives it life and makes it relatable and engaging—which are essential elements to speaking effectively.

Having passion means giving ourselves permission to take ownership over our stories, making them deeply personal in order to reach our goals and touch people’s hearts in meaningful ways. With that said, let’s move on to discussing how we should tackle dealing with challenges while giving a speech.

Dealing with Challenges

The process of delivering a speech can be challenging, but it is also rewarding. Difficulties can arise during the process that may threaten to derail your success. To ensure you are adequately prepared for these possible pitfalls it is important to consider strategies for proactively mitigating the risk of encountering these challenges. 1. Public Speaking Anxiety: Many people experience some form of anxiety when asked to speak in public. There are a number of techniques available to combat this fear and increase confidence, such as deep breathing exercises, mental rehearsal, positive self-talk and visualization of success.

Learning about the audience, creating an engaging presentation and using props or visual aids can also help reduce anxiety levels and create a better overall experience for both the speaker and the audience. 2. Unfamiliar Topics or Audiences: When presenting on unfamiliar topics or to an unknown audience it can be difficult to prepare effectively.

In this situation it is important to conduct research on the topic and familiarize yourself with the needs of your audience so that the content is tailored accordingly. It is also helpful to use humor or stories related to the topic in order to engage your audience and make them more receptive to your message. 3. Lack of Support: If you lack support from family, friends, colleagues or mentors, it can be difficult to push through difficult conversations or speeches without any additional motivation.

To overcome this challenge, seek out peer mentorship opportunities or find compatible online communities where people discuss similar topics or objectives. Here you can share ideas, provide feedback and learn from others who have experienced similar issues. 4. Time Constraints: One of the biggest challenges when giving a speech is managing your time effectively in order to deliver an effective message without going over allotted timeslots and boring your audience .

To successfully address this challenge try setting manageable goals for each section of your speech and practice regularly. Replicating real-time conditions as closely as possible will help you stay within time constraints when delivering your speech on the day itself. In conclusion, there are many potential challenges you may face when giving a speech or taking part in a public speaking event – but with proper preparation and practice they are easily managed if approached correctly.

With knowledge of techniques for dealing with such scenarios comes increased confidence when stepping up to the podium – further improving your chances of delivering an effective speech that resonates with your audience members.

Responses to Frequently Asked Questions

How should i end my speech to leave a lasting impression.

The best way to end your speech is by reinforcing your main point and summarizing the key takeaways. You should also encourage the audience to take action, whether it be to sign up for a newsletter, make a donation, or visit your website for more information. This final call to action will not only leave a lasting impression on the audience but will also help you achieve any goals you might have had when making your speech in the first place.

What techniques can I use to keep my audience engaged during my speech?

One of the best techniques for keeping an audience engaged during a speech is to keep it interactive . Ask questions throughout the presentation, as well as allowing for audience input and discussion. This can help to keep people’s attention and create a more engaging experience.

Another great tip is to use humor. Even if you don’t consider yourself a natural comedian, sprinkling in a few jokes here and there can break up the monotony of long speeches and keep people interested. Humor can also help to make points stick in people’s minds, making them easier to remember.

Finally, try to be enthusiastic about the content of your speech. If you show too much indifference or lethargic behavior, it will discourage your audience from paying attention and taking your message seriously.

Instead, be passionate about what you are saying so that the energy of your words carries into the room and engages your audience with excitement.

How can I use storytelling to make my speech more interesting?

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can be used to make any speech more interesting. Telling stories in your speech will help engage the audience and make your message stick. Here are some tips for using storytelling in your speech:

1. Choose stories that are relevant to your message and audience. Think about stories that will best illustrate the point you are trying to convey, or evoke emotions in your listeners. 2. Use vivid descriptions and visuals when telling your story. Be sure to include details such as setting, character descriptions, dialogue and plot points. This will help to bring the story to life for your audience. 3. Make sure the story you are telling has a strong conclusion or moral at the end. This will help add emphasis to your message and make it memorable. 4. Practice telling stories out loud before delivering a speech with them. Rehearsing will help you deliver your story more effectively and with more confidence in front of an audience. By using these tips, storytelling can be an effective tool to make any speech more interesting, engaging, and persuasive!

How can I prepare for my speech effectively?

Preparing for a speech effectively is essential to delivering an impactful and memorable presentation. Here are some tips: 1. Have a clear goal in mind. Before starting to prepare, ask yourself what the purpose of giving the speech is: what message do you want to convey? Defining this will help to structure your content and focus your research. 2. Research thoroughly. Make sure you understand the subject matter well, so that your delivery sounds confident and inspiring. Using facts and data will strengthen your arguments and make your talk more convincing. 3. Outline your speech. Make a rough outline of how you want it to go – from beginning to end – well in advance of the actual presentation. This will give you a strong foundation upon which you can craft an engaging talk with an effective narrative arc that keeps audiences interested and engaged. 4. Practice regularly. Rehearsing your speech out loud several times is key to ensuring that you know it well enough to feel comfortable when delivering it live in front of an audience.

5. Time yourself. Record how long it takes for you to go through your entire speech, so that you can adjust the length as needed before delivering it live – remember that most speeches should last no more than 10-15 minutes. 6. Identify potential questions from the audience and prepare answers before hand. Knowing ahead of time what kind of questions people may ask can help reduce the anxiety of not knowing what comes next, enabling you to stay confident when speaking in public. 7. Work on building up confidence levels before delivering a speech. Visualize yourself succeeding in delivering a great presentation; practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or positive self-talk; or use props during practice sessions such as water bottles or stress balls if needed to remain calm during the real thing!

What strategies can I use to reduce my anxiety when giving a speech?

1. Plan Ahead: Create an outline of your speech beforehand and practice it multiple times to become familiar with the content. Doing a trial run with the audience can also help you get used to speaking in front of people.

2. Visualize Success: Positive visualization is a great way to reduce anxiety before giving a speech. Imagine yourself confidently delivering the speech while feeling relaxed and composed.

3. Get Organized: Make sure you have all the materials necessary for your presentation, including notes, slides, etc., to reduce any additional stress that may come from not having what you need when you speak.

4. Take Deep Breaths: Before and during the speech, take a few deep breaths as this will help calm nerves and make sure your breathing is regulated throughout the duration of your presentation.

5. Speak Slowly: It is common to feel anxious while giving a speech and try to rush through it too quickly. Speaking slowly helps maintain composure while delivering your message effectively and clearly.

6. Pay Attention to Your Body: Your posture, stance, movements , facial expressions can all influence how confident you appear to your audience and how nervous you may be feeling inside. Check in with yourself frequently throughout the presentation and correct any tense body language or physical actions if needed.

7. Focus on the Audience: If you notice that your anxiety levels are growing as you present, shift your focus onto the audience instead of yourself as this will help refocus your attention away from negative thoughts that may arise from fear or insecurity.

8. Make Eye Contact: Establishing eye contact with your audience is a key confidence-builder for public speakers—it shows that you’re strong, engaged with them, and receptive to feedback or questions they might have regarding your speech topic .

9. Practice Positive Affirmations: Positive thoughts will boost your self-confidence as well as your mood which can help increase performance quality significantly during speeches or presentations in general—so don’t forget to tell yourself “you can do it!” several times throughout the day leading up to the event!

10. Seek Support of Friends & Family: Many experienced public speakers suggest seeking support of close friends & family members prior and during their speeches—not only does it allow helpful critique regarding content but it also creates a more comfortable atmosphere while speaking which can reduce pre-speech jitters drastically.

COMM 1110: Speech Communication: Steps of the Speech Process

• Learning Activities
• Steps of the Speech Process
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A speech generally needs to be written further in advance than a research paper so that adequate practice and revision can occur. Preparing for your speech will help with the very common fear of public speaking.  Here are some steps and links to guide you through the process.

Step 1: Understand Your Assignment

• Read your assignment and ask  your instructor you have questions on what is required.
• Who is your audience?  What is your purpose?  This this guide your topic, tone, and style.
• How long is the speech?  Are you using presentation software such as PowerPoint or do you need visuals or props?  How many sources are required?

Step 2: Select and focus your topic. Begin preliminary research

• See the Topics Research Guide
• ProCon.org: Hot Topics in the News
• Locate background information
• Locate information in books and e-books
• Consult some databases
• Locate journal articles
• Locate visuals (graphics and films)

Step 3: Get Organized

Begin to organize or outline your speech.Group your remarks and evidence to create an informal outline. It may be useful to include: 

• An introduction (including purpose and overview)
• Content or body
• Begin crafting a strong title, opening and key sentences.
• Speeches from University of North Carolina Writing Center
• Writing an Effective Title  from U of M's Center for Writing.

Step 4: Step 4: Draft any visuals. Gather additional research.

• Select evidence to support your ideas such as quotations, statistics , facts, anecdotes, etc.
• Gather your evidence from credible sources.  Include the source in  your speech.  This will make your speech more authoritative.
• Do you need help in locating materials?  Ask the librarians for help via chat, e-mail, or phone,
• Visit the Free Images, Music, and Videos Research Guide
• Learn more about creating effective visuals
• Citation help

Step 5: Compose Your Talking Points

• Start with your most important points.
• What is the "take home message" you want your audience to understand, believe, accept or do after they hear your speech? Write this out in one or two sentences.What evidence supports your "take home message?"
• Novelty: an unusual fact or surprising image
• Conflict: an opposing viewpoints on the issue
• Humor: an amusing play on words or exaggerated remark
• Suspense: such as asking a provocative question
• Consult your outline
• Create index cards (be sure to number cards)
• Organize your visuals
• On the Lisle campus, get help at the Student Success Center to go over your speech or outline for structure, clarity, tone, etc.

Step 6: Plan the Timing of Your Speech.

• Add timing to your talking points
• Revise your talking points, PowerPoint slides and transitions.
• Delete talking points and/or PowerPoint slides that are not crucial. Paring down or eliminating content will enhance clarity and improve the speech overall.  

Step 7: Rehearse Your Speech for Content and Timing.

• Be aware of your body position, foot placement, breath and eye movement.
• Videotape or record a rehearsal to identify problems, distracting habits, etc. 
• Avoid reading every word--you should be presenting not reading.
• Avoid common verbal habits such as "um", "like", "you know", "kinda", etc.
• Practice your speech many times until you feel comfortable with the content and timing.
• Review your assignment to be sure you are meeting all the requirements.

Step 8: Rehearse Your Speech in Front of an Audience.

• Gather a few friends or classmates and deliver your speech.
• Try to avoid the following common behaviors: fidgeting, looking at the computer or screen not at audience, rustling your papers, chewing gum, gesturing too much, or pacing.
• Ask for feedback on your delivery (such as eye contact, hand gestures, speech habits, etc.) and content
• Ask what they identified as the most important points. Do these match yours?
• Edit or revise speech based on the feedback.

Step 9: Continue Revising and Prepare for Anticipated Questions

• If your speech includes a question and answer session with your audience, spend some time to anticipate questions and briefly plan answers.
• Ask for clarification if you don't understand a question when you are presenting

Step 10: Final Preparations

Continue to rehearse. Prepare to deliver you speech.

• Make sure you have all your materials together including note cards, outlines, visuals, handouts, bibliography, PowerPoint on Flash drive, etc.
• Arrive early
• Practice on the day of your speech so you are comfortable with the content.

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How to Prepare for a Presentation, with Examples

February 15, 2021 - Dom Barnard

This guide covers everything you need to know to prepare for your presentation. including what you need to think about beforehand, during and after the presentation.

1. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (always aloud)

Once you have your presentation worked out, you will need to practice it, but even though you might think it’s the best way to have a flawless presentation, don’t memorise what you’re going to say.

That might sound like incredibly bad advice, but here’s why:

• If you memorise your speech, you’ll get stuck in thinking you can only deliver your ideas in that way, and that stifles your creativity, and the chance for new thoughts and ways to put things that come up as you speak.

Not only that, but every  audience is different . Sometimes they laugh out loud, sometimes they sit and smile, and you never know which type of audience you’ll have until you’re live.

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If you’re going off a memorised presentation, it’s much more difficult to break away from that to go with the flow on the day, and respond naturally to your audience.

• If you forget your speech in the middle of it, you will be thrown, and you’ll have more chance of complete brain freeze, which really will knock your confidence.
• Memorising your presentation gives you a false sense of security, which could leave you high and dry if something goes wrong. If you’ve only got your memorised speech, for example, what will you do if your PowerPoint freezes or your props break, and you can’t do what you were going to do?

Rehearse in front of colleagues, friends, a mirror, in virtual reality – always aloud. Make sure you spend plenty of time practising your presentation, it will make you feel much more relaxed if you know your material.

Courses where you can rehearse with interactive exercises:

• Essential Public Speaking
• How to Present over Video

Video showing how you can prepare for your presentation using virtual reality.  Learn more about virtual reality training .

2. Memorise your opening line

Do, however, memorise your opening line. If you know how you’re going to begin, you’ll get a strong start and that will build your confidence.

Many speakers and stage actors find that the minute they’ve actually delivered their first line, the nerves are gone and they’re well into their stride.

3. Practise your speech from written notes

Writing your presentation out in your own handwriting will help you clarify your ideas and may well bring you new ones.

• How to Write a Speech to Engage your Audience

4. Practise presentation flow

As well as practising for the ideas and what you want to say, practise how you want your presentation to flow. Think of it almost as a symphony, with high points, slow movements and crescendos. If it’s important, think about how you want your audience to feel, what emotions you want them to have, and when.

5. The power of silence

Don’t be afraid to pause and use the power of silence. A good pause can have a huge emotional impact. It allows people to really absorb what you are saying and react, and it’s vital to pause if you’re using humour so that the next part of your presentation doesn’t get lost underneath people’s laughter.

For more on the ‘Power of the Pause’, watch this short from video Brian Tracy:  The Power of the Pause

• 10 Effective Ways to use Pauses in your Speech

6. Have a backup

There’s nothing worse than the projector dying or finding that your laptop won’t communicate with the projector for some reason. If you know you have a backup, even if it’s only a pre-prepared flip chart, you’ll feel better, and you’ll be more confident.

7. Arrive early

Following on from that, arrive at least half an hour early so you aren’t feeling rushed, and so you have time to check your equipment and get your notes laid out ready to go. That gives you time to breathe and relax before you go on, knowing everything is as set as it can be.

8. Use physical props for a demo

Use physical props, if possible, for a demo. This can make you stand out and be more memorable among all the other speakers who only use PowerPoint, and it can add greatly to the impact of your presentation.

Video showing an example of using physical props during a live demo.

9. Structure your presentation

First, find out how much time you have to present, is it 10 minutes, 15, an hour? Prepare enough material for this time and have a couple of extra slides as backup – we tend to speak much quicker when nervous so you might find you finish your presentation too early. At some large conference events, timings may change on the day, be aware of this have a shorter version of your presentation in mind (i.e. know which slides to skip over).

• How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples
• Examples of Corporate Presentation Structures

10. Prepare for questions

Have a few backup slides for questions you think will arise from your presentation. It is sometime a tactic to explain a section briefly in your speech, so that you get a question about it afterwards. If you don’t understand the question, ask for it to be rephrased.

If there are no questions, it is not an indication how good or bad your presentation was. You many have explain your material extremely well, or simply that people are tired at the end of the day and want to go home.

• Guide for Handling Questions after a Presentation

11. Prepare for where you are presenting

If you can, go to the room you are speaking in before the actual event. It gives you an idea of furniture layout, podium height, location, room size, audience size and lighting. You can then visualise the room while practising and avoid the shock of suddenly being faced with a huge room when you expected a tiny one.

Ask the organiser if you need any particular props, for example a table to help with your live demo.

Additional planning to think about before your presentation:

1. Purpose  – what outcome are we trying to achieve? How can results be measured? What will success look like?

2. Topic  – Novelty? Complexity? Technical?

3. People  – Who should attend? What do they already know? How are they going to help?

4. Timing  – When will it happen and how long will the presentation take?

5. Location  – Where will the presentation be held? Do you have access to the correct facilities for the presentation?

6. Papers  – Who is keeping minutes? Do you need to send out an agenda before the presentation? Background information required?

7. Visual aids  – Is a  projector required ? Boards?

8. Style  – Structure or unstructured, discussion style? How assertive should you be? How should the meeting items be organised?

12. Choose the signals to give to your audience

Before the presentation, think about these 5 topics:

• Eye contact
• Facial gestures
• Body language

Decide how you will use each of these to reinforce your message. Use the table below for help.

Additional courses to help you prepare for your presentation:

• Presentation Skills Training Courses

Example from Steve Jobs

Think about these 10 techniques while you are preparing your presentation..

• Planning in Analog.  Tell a story, create stunning visuals and videos to complement video, use demonstrations and other speakers, keep the audience engaged.
• Creating a Twitter-Friendly Description  Single description sentence, condensed his message into 140 characters.
• Introduce the Enemy  Story needs villains or a problem to be solved. Jobs highlighted IBM and useless mobile phones (during iPhone release) as his villains.
• Focusing on Benefits  Keep reinforcing the benefits of your product, create top 10 lists, understand this is what customers care about.
• Sticking to Rule of Three  Classic Literary technique, things are best remembered and reinforced in threes. Read this article on  Literary Techniques  for more detail.
• Sell Dreams, Not Products  Create a vision people believe in, create a vision which will make people’s lives better
• Create Visual Slides  Use as few words as possible and use colourful graphics on the slide to highlight points.
• Make Numbers Meaningful  Compare large numbers to things people understand.
• Use Plain English  Use easy to say and easy to remember words, keep it simple.
• Large Reveals  Due to Apple secrecy, Jobs was able to deliver unexpected products to the world at his product launches.

10 Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills

Few are immune to the fear of public speaking. Marjorie North offers 10 tips for speakers to calm the nerves and deliverable memorable orations.

Marjorie North

Snakes? Fine. Flying? No problem. Public speaking? Yikes! Just thinking about public speaking — routinely described as one of the greatest (and most common) fears — can make your palms sweat. But there are many ways to tackle this anxiety and learn to deliver a memorable speech.

In part one of this series,  Mastering the Basics of Communication , I shared strategies to improve how you communicate. In part two, How to Communicate More Effectively in the Workplace , I examined how to apply these techniques as you interact with colleagues and supervisors in the workplace. For the third and final part of this series, I’m providing you with public speaking tips that will help reduce your anxiety, dispel myths, and improve your performance.

Here Are My 10 Tips for Public Speaking:

1. nervousness is normal. practice and prepare.

All people feel some physiological reactions like pounding hearts and trembling hands. Do not associate these feelings with the sense that you will perform poorly or make a fool of yourself. Some nerves are good. The adrenaline rush that makes you sweat also makes you more alert and ready to give your best performance.

The best way to overcome anxiety is to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Take the time to go over your notes several times. Once you have become comfortable with the material, practice — a lot. Videotape yourself, or get a friend to critique your performance.

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2. Know Your Audience. Your Speech Is About Them, Not You.

Before you begin to craft your message, consider who the message is intended for. Learn as much about your listeners as you can. This will help you determine your choice of words, level of information, organization pattern, and motivational statement.

3. Organize Your Material in the Most Effective Manner to Attain Your Purpose.

Create the framework for your speech. Write down the topic, general purpose, specific purpose, central idea, and main points. Make sure to grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds.

4. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It.

Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners.

5. Let Your Personality Come Through.

Be yourself, don’t become a talking head — in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.

6. Use Humor, Tell Stories, and Use Effective Language.

Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience’s attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that.

7. Don’t Read Unless You Have to. Work from an Outline.

Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief outline can serve to jog your memory and keep you on task.

8. Use Your Voice and Hands Effectively. Omit Nervous Gestures.

Nonverbal communication carries most of the message. Good delivery does not call attention to itself, but instead conveys the speaker’s ideas clearly and without distraction.

9. Grab Attention at the Beginning, and Close with a Dynamic End.

Do you enjoy hearing a speech start with “Today I’m going to talk to you about X”? Most people don’t. Instead, use a startling statistic, an interesting anecdote, or concise quotation. Conclude your speech with a summary and a strong statement that your audience is sure to remember.

10. Use Audiovisual Aids Wisely.

Too many can break the direct connection to the audience, so use them sparingly. They should enhance or clarify your content, or capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Good communication is never perfect, and nobody expects you to be perfect. However, putting in the requisite time to prepare will help you deliver a better speech. You may not be able to shake your nerves entirely, but you can learn to minimize them.

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About the Author

North is a consultant for political candidates, physicians, and lawyers, and runs a private practice specializing in public speaking, and executive communication skills. Previously, she was the clinical director in the department of speech and language pathology and audiology at Northeastern University.

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10 Tips to Improve Public Speaking Skills

Professionals within all industries often need to present ideas and information. Improved public speaking skills can help employees reduce anxiety, improve productivity, and become more valued team members.

Regardless of the industry, one critical professional skill anyone should cultivate is public speaking. Speaking comfortably and effectively to a crowd can facilitate formal board presentations and complex explanations to financial backers. It can also help you present ideas to colleagues and teammates.

Everyone can learn the skills needed to share concepts with co-workers or crowds. This is true even if speaking in front of others intimidates you or you’ve never done it before.

By implementing the best presenters' public speaking tips, you can confidently convey essential information. With focused effort, you can improve your productivity and become an influential member of any team with good public speaking skills. 

1. Know your audience before preparing your speech. 

Employees are more likely to feel comfortable presenting to an audience they know. Knowing the people you are talking to will help you better understand how to craft a message that resonates with them. 

Start by identifying their understanding of the topic you plan to discuss. This will help you know the amount of background you need to cover before going more in-depth. It can also help you choose the right words. If you use industry jargon and acronyms for the general public, you’ll risk confusing them.

Then, as you’re presenting, stay aware of the reactions from your listeners. Adjust accordingly so you can connect with them through your message. 

2. Practice, practice, practice. 

Even the most seasoned public speaker needs to practice to be effective. Giving a mock presentation of your speech in advance will help you determine whether you’ve organised the information cohesively and clearly. 

It can help to talk out loud to an imaginary audience or in front of a mirror, but it’s even more effective to practice with a supportive co-worker, friend, or family member as an audience. 

3. Use constructive criticism to your advantage.

Whether you’re practising or giving a presentation, ask for constructive criticism. This feedback should include specific examples and be in a good-natured tone. If you know someone with your best interests in mind, you’ll likely be more open to their suggestions to enhance your communication. 

Constructive criticism can be challenging to accept. Take time before responding to avoid being defensive or taking the feedback personally. Integrate the ideas in a way that will help you improve your presentation next time. Always thank the person for providing their thoughts.

4. Make it your own. 

Connecting with an audience can happen more easily when you can be yourself. Let your personality shine through as you convey your message. Be authentic and appropriate—include humour when it can facilitate your work rather than detract from it.

When using a PowerPoint presentation, make sure the text and pictures highlight your character and expertise. Include short and focused personal stories to illustrate your points. Add your contact information at the end of the presentation so people can follow up with you afterwards. 

5. Connect with your audience with a personal story.

Including personal stories or anecdotes in your professional presentations can effectively communicate your message to your audience. This concept is demonstrated successfully on the TED Talk stage. 

When TED Speakers take the stage, they often begin with a short, personal tale. This structure helps them connect with the audience and share their passion for what they're about to discuss or explain their expertise. 

To add this personal touch to your presentation, ensure your share directly connects with the topic. If you think someone needs help understanding the personal story's point, ignore it.

Learn more about storytelling and influencing with a course from Macquarie University.

6. Make eye contact and avoid reading from a script.

Practice does more than ensure your presentation is structured and conveys the required messages. It also helps you feel comfortable enough with your material, allowing you to relax on stage physically. Also, you’re more likely to connect with those around you when you make eye contact. 

Presenters can use other methods to stay on track. If you have paper notes, you can use an outline with a few words to remind you about what you want to cover. Never rely on verbatim notes. If you're using an audio-visual aid like a PowerPoint presentation, use your slides as the cues instead. 

When you look at the people in the crowd, you’ll also be able to determine whether they understand your main points or if you’ll need to clarify them further.

7. Use the stage to your advantage.

Before the presentation, gather information about where you’ll be physically speaking. Check that your PowerPoint presentation can work with the provided equipment. Make sure you know details about the room’s arrangement in advance. Ask about time constraints, whether people will eat during your talk, and what kind of microphone you’ll use.

Then, when you’re on stage, own the space. Walk to different areas to make eye contact with other audience members. 

Be aware of your body language. Let your arms hang loosely. Stand with excellent posture, with your back straightened, and smile. Gain control over any nervous gestures—such as thrusting your hands in your pockets or scratching your head—so they don’t distract from your message.

8. Have coping skills in place for when nerves hit.

Despite your preparation, it’s normal to be still overcome with nerves at some point during your presentation. When this happens, take a deep breath. No one expects you to be perfect.

Work on gaining perspective before any problems, and strive for connection with your audience, not perfectionism. Humour can help ease tense moments and remind those listening that you are a human just like them. 

9. Record and evaluate yourself speaking. 

Co-workers and friends can help provide feedback, but you can help yourself. When you make a presentation, set up your phone to video record yourself so you can watch it later. You may be surprised by your nervous habits or awkward phrasing and could even find new ways to improve the readability of your PowerPoint slides.

If you're giving the presentation online through a video platform like Zoom, you can record yourself directly through the software. Use this technology to improve your skills to be even more effective next time and avoid ruminating on mistakes. Stay positive.

10. Make a lasting impression with a strong conclusion. 

As experts encourage speakers to grab their audience’s attention within the first 30 seconds of their presentations, creating a solid ending is also wise. This closing can include things like: 

A call to action (CTA) that encourages listeners to take the next step

A memorable quote that inspires or illustrates a point from your presentation

A personal story that demonstrates why this issue is so important to you

A summary of the critical takeaways 

Once you conclude your presentation, thank the audience for their time. If you have time, invite questions and answer them from the stage. If the organisers have limited your time, offer to answer questions afterwards. 

The importance of developing your public speaking skills

Public speaking skills are helpful for growth in various facets of life. Beyond setting a foundation for advancement in your career, the ability to speak comfortably and effectively in public will help you:

Strengthen team-building and collaboration 

Share your ideas and offer solutions to work-related problems

Earn esteem with employers and co-workers alike

Create connections that can lead to new professional opportunities

Become a better listener to provide the same respect you wish for yourself 

The benefits of these skills transfer easily to other areas of life. Clear and effective communication can improve your relationships and professional success. 

Improving public speaking skills can take time. The key to confidence is a willingness to practice tips from experts, such as those who follow and embrace the temporary discomfort of developing any new skill.

Next steps for success 

Apply these public speaking tips to improve your ability to execute a presentation confidently. Further, refine your skills by practising and learning from those who can demonstrate their success in public speaking . 

Take public speaking classes. 

Online public speaking courses provide opportunities to improve communication skills from the comfort of your home or office. Take the Introduction to Public Speaking course or Dynamic Public Speaking Specialisation offered by the University of Washington on Coursera to gain confidence as you learn presentation and public speaking skills.

Join a public speaking support group.

Toastmasters International , a nonprofit organisation with chapters worldwide, aims to teach people public speaking and leadership skills. Members practice giving speeches and overcoming shyness and anxiety with regular online and in-person meetings. 

Attend public speaking events.

If your town or city offers events with speakers on various topics, consider these opportunities to learn. When watching others give presentations, use a critical eye to learn what works and what doesn’t. Ask yourself why you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy the lecture beyond the topic. 

Watch videos of effective public speaking.

Finally, you can enjoy the same learning experience of in-person lectures by watching videos of influential public speakers. TED Talks are an online collection of presentations on various topics, including science, entertainment, and business. Watch as many as you can and use the best speakers as mentors to improve your confidence and success in public speaking.

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This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

Presentation Guru

The 4 most important steps when preparing your speech.

Preparation is the key to a good speech or presentation

The best speeches and presentations – the ones that are delivered effortlessly; the ones that we remember; the ones that make an impact  – are usually the result of thorough and careful preparation.

An iceberg is an excellent metaphor for a good speech or presentation. Most of an iceberg lies under water. Thus, we have the expression, “the tip of the iceberg”. The speech or presentation is like the tip of an iceberg because that is what the audience sees. What the audience doesn’t see – the preparation – is like part of the iceberg beneath the water.

In an ideal world, we would have days or even weeks to focus on an important speech or presentation. But we live in the real world. Time is often short and we have many obligations. Nevertheless, you owe it to your audience to give a speech or presentation that is worthy of their time.

With that in mind, I would like to share with you a simple, but powerful, four-step exercise that I do every time I have a speech or presentation. The exercise usually takes between 25 and 45 minutes. It is time well spent because, at the end of it, you should be much clearer about the things that you will cover in your talk.

Before you begin

Before you begin the exercise, you have to do something that might seem counterintuitive: turn off the computer. Yes, you read that correctly.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not a Luddite. I love technology. I have a Smartphone, tablet and laptop. I have helped develop an app and use a Fitbit. I am active on social media and fairly up to date with the latest trends in the tech world. But the computer is a tool, and like any tool, it has to be used for the right job at the right time in the right way.

Too many people make the mistake of firing up PowerPoint or Keynote or Prezi and adding slide after slide full of details. You have to resist that temptation and take a step backwards to get some perspective on your speech or presentation.

Alan Kay, the renowned American computer scientist said it well:

If you have the ideas, you can do a lot without machinery. Once you have those ideas, the machinery starts working for you. … Most ideas you can do pretty darn well with a stick in the sand.

This exercise is all about getting the ideas right . So put away the computer and get some good old-fashioned paper and a pencil or pen.

Step 1 – Have “eagle vision”

An eagle’s eye is a marvel of nature, up to eight times more powerful than a human eye. As it flies, an eagle can survey a large amount of territory. It can spot a rabbit or fish at a distance of up to three kilometres and when it does, it can keep that prey in perfect focus as it swoops in to catch it.

As a speaker, you can do the same thing – metaphorically – as you prepare for your talk.

There are three cornerstones to any speech or presentation: the speaker; the subject; and the audience. On a sheet of paper, make a large triangle (Δ). At the top, write your name; at the bottom left, the name of the audience; and at the bottom right, the subject of your speech or presentation.

Now, think about the relationships between the three cornerstones and write a few notes along the sides of the triangle about each. For example:

Speaker – Subject : What do you know about the subject? Why are you speaking about it? What expertise do you have? What insights can you share with the audience? Etc.

Audience – Subject : What does the audience know about the subject? Do they like the subject? Are they afraid of it? Are they bored by it? How is the subject relevant for the audience? Etc.

Speaker – Audience : What do you know about the audience? What do they know about you? Do you have authority over them? Do they have authority over you? Etc.

Once you have made your notes, you need to need to think about the speaking situation and how it might affect your analysis above. Just as the weather can change from day to day, so too the speaking situation can change for a speaker or an audience.

For example, imagine a CEO who has to give a speech at the company’s annual shareholders meeting. In Year 1, the company has had a great year. Profits are up, the company is gaining market share and the stock price has doubled. In Year 2, the company has had a terrible year. The new product was a disaster, the company has lost market share and the stock prices has tumbled. Same speaker, same audience, same subject. Very different situations.

Here are some questions to ask when thinking about the speaking situation:

Are these good times? Tough times? How does the situation affect the subject of the presentation, if at all? Will the situation affect your delivery? What will happen – for you and the audience – if the presentation goes well? What will happen if it goes poorly? Etc.

As you think about these questions, review the notes that you made and add or amend them as necessary.

The purpose of this first step is to get as clear a picture as possible of the key components of your talk. Like an eagle, you want a broad vision of the landscape before narrowing your focus on your target.

Step 2 – Define your objective

At the end of your speech or presentation, the audience should be changed in some way. What is your objective for the talk? What do you want the audience to do when your talk is over?

Some possible objectives for a business presentation: (a) you want people to invest in a project; (b) you want people to take some action; (c) you want people to be aware of certain information; (d) you want to bring about a change in the company.

Sometimes speakers just want the audience to know something and that is fine. But the most powerful speeches and presentations are the ones that move people to action. If you can get your audience to take some concrete action, you will have made an impact.

When thinking about what you want the audience to do, be specific. Write out the objective as follows: “At the end of the presentation, I want the audience to                                    .”

There are countless objectives that a speech or presentation might have. Give it some thought. Just remember that the objective should be clear and realistic. Audiences need to know what, precisely, they have to do, and they have to be able to do it.

Step 3­ – What is your key message?

A speech or presentation should be built around a key message. It is fine to have more than one key message, but I would only have two or three at most. The more messages you have, the more complicated your talk will be; the more complicated the talk, the less likely it is that people will remember it .

Too often, a presentation rambles along, leaving the audience confused as to what the point was. Very often, this is because the speaker has not thought clearly about the message and so did not construct a coherent talk.

Think about what you want the audience to remember even if they forget everything else that you have said. Then, write your entire presentation in one or two complete sentences. Not bullet points! The purpose of this step is to help you get to the heart of what you want to say.

When you can condense your speech or presentation into a single sentence or two, the message is clear in your mind. Then, when it comes to building your talk, as you think about adding a slide, a statistic, a story, a chart, a graph, etc., ask yourself whether it supports the key message. If it does, it can stay. If it doesn’t, you might want to save it for another talk.

Step 4­ – Why should the audience care?

A speech or presentation is never about the speaker or her product or service or company. It is always about the audience . When speakers put the audience first, that’s when great things can happen with a speech or presentation.

The final step of the exercise is to be clear about why your audience should care about your key message? Why is it important for them? List the reasons. If you can’t think of any, you have a problem. Either you are giving the wrong talk to this audience or you are speaking to the wrong audience. But if you know the reasons why the audience should care, you have the basis for a meaningful speech or presentation.

In this regard, it’s worth remembering the humorous, but insightful, comment of the late Ken Haemer, former Manager of Presentation Research at AT&T:

Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it: “To Whom It May Concern.”

Even if you do not have a lot of time to prepare a speech or presentation, the foregoing exercise will help you clarify your ideas about your talk. Ultimately, this will save you time as you design it and will help you deliver a message that is clear, memorable and relevant for your audience.

If you liked this, you might also like:

5 Easy Ways to Prepare Your Next Presentation

The 8-Step Guide to Approaching Presentations with a Journalistic Mindset

When it Comes to Presentations – Less is More

• Latest Posts

John Zimmer

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• A Good Presentation Needs Structure - 12th November 2019
• More Lessons from Stand-up Comedy - 28th May 2019
• The Power of the Pause - 6th March 2019
• Five Resolutions to Make You a Better Speaker in 2019 - 21st December 2018

Ariel Green

15th May 2018 at 2:34 pm

16th May 2018 at 9:06 am

HI Ariel. Thanks for the comment. Glad you found the post useful.

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Speech planning: How our brains prepare to speak

I n a fascinating exploration of speech planning, research led by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine reveals how our brains prepare to speak before we actually verbalize our thoughts.

The study, conducted among individuals undergoing surgery for epilepsy treatment, is pivotal for advancing our understanding of speech production . It unveils significant insights into the brain's mechanisms behind speech planning.

The brain's blueprint for speech

The study delves into the roles of the inferior frontal gyrus and motor cortex - two regions situated in the outer layers of the cerebral cortex. These areas are pivotal for controlling the muscles involved in speech production, influencing our selection of words and sounds.

The researchers examined brain-mapping recordings from 16 patients, aged 14 to 43, at NYU Langone Health over the period from 2018 to 2021. These individuals were undergoing pre-surgical evaluations for epilepsy.

The process involved stimulating brain regions to pinpoint and conserve areas critical to speech while targeting seizure-inducing tissue for removal.

Importantly, a key innovation of this research lies in measuring the brief time intervals, less than two seconds, between brain stimulation and its impact on speech. This approach offers fresh perspectives on the cortex's role in speech planning.

Exploring speech production

The researchers have unveiled new insights into the organization of speech within the brain. They found that the delays before speech disruption, known as latencies, vary across different brain regions. This discovery highlights the brain's complex role in speech production and its elaborate mechanisms.

"Our study adds evidence for the role of the brain's motor cortex and inferior frontal gyrus in planning speech and determining what people are preparing to say, not just voicing words using the vocal cords or mouthing the words by moving the tongue and lips," stated Dr. Heather Kabakoff, a speech pathologist at NYU Langone.

Furthermore, Dr. Adeen Flinker, the study's senior investigator and a neuroscientist, explained: "Our results show that mapping out the millisecond time intervals, or latencies, between electrical stimulation in parts of the brain to the disruption or slurring of words and eventual inability to speak can be used to better understand how the human brain works and the roles played by different brain regions in human speech."

Dr. Flinker emphasized the clinical implications of these findings. Additionally, he suggested that this research could pave the way for improved surgical techniques to protect speech functions during brain surgeries.

The next frontier in speech and brain research

The team is now expanding their focus, setting their sights on broader horizons. Consequently, they aim to unravel the roles of other brain parts in speech and auditory processing.

The researchers are studying real-time brain corrections of speech errors to enhance our understanding of speech control and modification. This endeavor marks another step forward in decoding the complexities of human communication.

The process of speech planning

The process of speech planning in the brain is a complex, multi-step process involving various brain regions working in coordination. It includes several key stages:

Conceptualization

This is the initial stage where the intent or idea of what one wants to communicate is formed. It involves abstract thinking and decision-making processes in the prefrontal cortex, where the brain decides on the message it wants to convey.

Lexical selection

Once the concept is formed, the brain selects the appropriate words to express the idea. This involves the temporal lobe, particularly the left temporal lobe for most people, where language comprehension and vocabulary are managed.

Syntactic processing

After selecting the words, the brain organizes them into a grammatically correct structure. This involves Broca's area, located in the left frontal lobe, which is responsible for speech production and the grammatical aspects of language .

Phonological processing 

This stage involves planning the sounds that need to be produced to articulate the words. This involves the interaction between Wernicke's area, which is involved in language comprehension and the processing of phonological (sound) information, and Broca's area for the motor aspects of speech production.

Motor planning

Before speech occurs, the brain must plan and coordinate the specific movements of the mouth, tongue, vocal cords, and lungs that produce speech. 

This involves the motor cortex, which controls voluntary muscle movements, and the cerebellum, which coordinates the timing and precision of these movements.

Finally, the motor cortex sends signals through the nervous system to the speech organs, executing the planned movements and producing speech. This involves intricate coordination of muscles and breathing to articulate words and modulate voice.

Throughout this speech planning process, the brain also relies on feedback mechanisms involving auditory and somatosensory systems to monitor and adjust speech production in real-time. This ensures accuracy in articulation and intonation.

The exact neural pathways and interactions between these areas are still a subject of ongoing research, as the brain's processes for managing speech are incredibly complex and vary from person to person.

The study is published in the journal Brain .

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