hints for writing more powerful speeches

1. Decide what you want to accomplish.If you don't know where your speech is going, it probably won't get there.

2. Write an outline.This can be as simple as a list of points you want to make. Read through and analyze the list, evaluating each point. Then pare down the list to three to five essential topics. The points you discard aren't necessarily extraneous. They may crop up again to support, explain or reinforce your main points.

3. Identify a thesis.A single, strong, unifying idea should evolve from the paring process. This is the thesis of your speech, its core idea or statement.

4. Your opening should grab the attention of your audience with some kind of hook.Often, this can be an ice-breaking joke or anecdote, but beware. Nothing falls flatter than a joke the audience doesn't find funny. You can also begin with a provocative question. Or with a dramatic statistic. Or with a true story that has emotional impact and relates to your topic. Or by referring to a quotation or an event in history that occurred on this date, and relating it back to your topic.

5. Be yourself.Use language that is natural to you. (But avoid technical jargon unless you're addressing a purely technical audi­ence about their own specialty.) If you're not folksy, don't try to sound like one of the guys down at the barbershop. If you're an adult, don't try to impress teens with mastery of their slang. If you don't use lan­guage that reflects your natural tendencies, you'll sound phony and lose your audience's attention.

6. Use simple language.Big and rarely-used words might win a prize for you if you can define them on a quiz show, but they work against you on the podium. Words of one syllable are often far more powerful. Examples: Don't say, "lam cognizant that you are in pain." Say, "I feel your pain." Don't say, "Hard work was the instrumentality through which we achieved this goal" Say, "We reached our goal with hard work."

7. Use statistics sparingly, and make them come alive.Example: "We used to have a $5.5 trillion debt. That's the equivalent of $21,000 for every man, woman and child in America."

8. Employ emotional language to keep your audience awake and electrified.Example: Instead of saying " This isn't fair", try " This is a gross injustice." Also consider using emotional words to establish a tone. If you are proud, happy, delighted or excited to be addressing your audience, tell them that.

9. Use the active voice, not the passive voice.In the passive voice, you might describe an event this way: "A pie was thrown by her." Try the active voice: "She threw a pie." Passive: "Age discrimination is not allowed at our bank." Active:" We don't permit age discrimination at our bank." Or even stronger: "We forbid age discrimination at our bank."

10. Get personal when you can.A personal experience woven into your speech can help you emphasize a point and make it convinc­ing. Also, if you can make positive personal references to people in the audience, you help to establish rapport with the entire audience. Example: “I'd like to thank Joe Brown, in the front row, for giving me this exciting opportunity to talk to you."

11. Use transitional phrases to shift from topic to topic, or to em­phasize key points.Examples: First of all.., Another factor to consider…, But listen to this…, If you have leave tonight with only one thought… .

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 770