Before writing your speech you should think carefully about your target audience and have a clear purpose
in mind.
Taylor your speech to the knowledge and interests of your listeners.
Are you hoping to persuade, argue, advise, inform, explain, describe, analyse, review, comment,
entertain?
Remember also to adjust the level of formality and language to the kind of speech and audience.
Will you use formal English? Standard English? Some slang words? Colloquialisms…?
Write for the ear, not for the eye.
PARAGRAPH 1 – Introduction
Here’s a 4-step formula for a killer introduction:
1. Your hook
Hook the audience in order to get the attention of the listeners and pull them in.
You can raise a thought-provoking question, make an interesting or
controversial statement, recite a relevant quotation or a joke, give a shocking
statistic, show a powerful picture…or make a combination of those things.
2. Transition to the topic
Bridge the gap between your hook and what you’re going to cover in the speech.
You can raise another question “You might be wondering why…?” “Well, I tell that
story because…” “This story illustrates…”
3. Self-introduction and preview
Introduce yourself briefly if need be and give an outline of your talk.
4. Audience benefit
Tell the audience what they will gain from listening to your speech. (also in the conclusion)
PARAGRAPH 2 – Body
Keep your listeners engaged by formulating a series of points that you would like to raise.
Use the three persuasive techniques by:
organizing your arguments so that related points follow one another, i.e. each point
should build upon the previous one. Use transitions so that people can follow your
logic. Appeal to their reason using facts, figures, graphs, charts…(Logos)
providing supporting evidence for each of your points or arguments. Demonstrate their
credibility and build trust. Use experts to endorse what you say, give the origin of the
information… (Ethos)
creating an emotional response in your listeners, whether positive or negative (fear,
sadness, happiness, disgust, laughter...) . Appeal to their sensitivity (Pathos)
Use rhetorical devices to support your ideas and make your speech memorable:
Repetition
(“I have a dream” - “Yes we can”)
Pattern of three
(it is likely that we are preconditioned to respond to elements grouped in threes)
Parallelism
(“the more people consume, the more the survival of our planet is threatened”)
Alliteration
(“We can fight against a future full of frightening…”)
Metaphor and simile
(“the table of brotherhood”)
Rhetorical questions
(Are we doomed to live in a life without pleasure?”
First person plural pronoun
(use of the inclusive “we” “our”…)
Personal involvement
(talk about personal experiences…)
Direct address
(use of “you” …)
Quotes (experts, authors, philosophers…)
Facts and statistics (graphs, surveys…)
PARAGRAPH 3 – Conclusion
Craft a powerful conclusion that summarizes the main points of your speech.
Keep it short, memorable and to the point.
You may also:
Provide further comments for thought for your listeners.
Try to relate the subject matter to your listeners’ lives
Leave your audience with positive memories of your speech.
Choose a final thought to close your speech in an effective way.
Vocabulary
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Introduction
phrases
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Conclusion
phrases
Ladies and gentlemen, members of the jury/Congress/Faculty…
Today is a particular honour because…
Thank you for being here today.
Good morning fellow students/citizens…
Hi everyone
Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve asked yourself the
following question:……….?
Hi, I’m …. and I would like to ask you one question today…
In this talk, I’m going to give you the simple most important lesson
my colleagues and I have learned…
So, I have a little test for you. Don’t panic, I’m not here to judge you.
It’s just a little test, ok?
So how do we learn and how come some of us learn things more
easily than others?
What if I told you that……? - Can you imagine that?
Did you know that….?
……..
Thank you for listening to me.
It has been a great honour talking to you tonight.
Thank you for your commitment and your support.
…So I hope you’ll leave today with this fantastic idea that…
…the most important change starts with the individual. It starts with
you. So go out and experiment.
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Sources:
https://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Introduction-for-a-Persuasive-Speech
https://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Informative-Speech
https://www.lexico.com/grammar/top-tips-for-writing-a-successful-speech
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zv7fqp3/articles/z4w96v
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGEFtRwPhE4
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-write-a-speech-guide-6078227#
https://www.ted.com/