Plan Your Speech
Choose a topic.You get to choose what your speech is about. But if the speech is for a specific occasion, choose a related topic.For instance, if you are speaking at your brother's wedding, you wouldn't talk about the challenges of potty training. At least I hope you wouldn't. Make the topic appropriate to the audience and the event. Set the tone. In our wedding example, you would keep the tone positive and light. But if you are speaking on a serious issue, go for a serious tone. And don't confuse that with a lecture. A serious tone lets the audience the importance of what you are talking about without feeling like they are in class. You set the tone of your speech in a number of ways. Use a powerful story or statistic. Do a little research.When congratulating your brother on his nuptials, you don't want to ramble or bore the audience. So do some digging around, first.Jot down funny stories about your brother when he was small. What positive things can you say about the relationship between the new couple? Maybe there's a funny story or two there, as well. Maybe she saved your brother from a life as the local cat man, and you are thankful since you are allergic. Start putting your ideas in a logical order that the audience can follow. This is your outline. It might look something like this:Introduction If you are an experienced public speaker, this might be all you need. Just transfer it to notecards and practice for a few days. However, if you are speaking for the first time, feel free to write the speech out word for word as you plan to give it. Practice it with friends. In front of your bathroom mirror. At your local Toastmasters meeting. Your brother will be glad you did. Return to Speech Writing Main Page
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