CAMPAIGN/ ADVOCACY SPEECH Tips in delivering a campaign/advocacy speech Speak slowly. Remember the audience is hearing the speech and not reading it. It is very important to keep in mind that how you write for listeners is going to be much different from how you would write for readers. Talk to the audience like you're having a conversation. Even though you're not actually having a conversation with someone, it should sound like you are. Keep your words simple and direct. Student audiences have especially short attention spans and limited vocabularies. As a good rule of thumb, keep all of your sentences at fifteen words or less. Read it aloud to see how it sounds. People may only hear your speech once. Read your speech aloud exactly as you want it to sound when you’re giving it. You’ll probably find words and phrases that sound clunky to the ear or trip up your tongue. Rephrase them. For even more focused practice, try speaking in front of a mirror or in front of a camera. Structuring a Campaign Speech Tailor your message to your audience in specific ways. Before you start writing, think about the audience you are addressing. Are you addressing the entire student body? Just one grade? A classroom? Outline your speech. All writing has a beginning, middle and end. Outlining your thoughts first will help you stay on track as you write the speech. The beginning needs to catch people’s attention and raise the questions you’re going to answer. The middle needs to provide the answers, and the end connects the answers back to the questions. In very simple terms: You tell them what you’re going to tell them. Then, you tell them. Then you tell them what you told them. Make your point quickly. Open your campaign speech with your theme, or main idea. You don’t stand anything to gain by beating around the bush, because people naturally want to pay attention to themselves. You have to convince them to listen to you. There's a lot of ways to get this done. You can use a story, a challenge, a joke, or just vividly describe a problem. You just need to get the audience's attention quickly. Earn their attention, don't expect it to come to you. Support your theme. Once you’ve got their attention, don’t let go. The middle of your speech needs to explain the issues you raised in the introduction and convince people that you can do something about them, but you need to vary the way you tackle the issues. You want to have a good mix of facts, feelings, and action. If you only talk facts, your audience will get bored. Only talk feelings, and you’ll wear them out. Only talk action, and it invites disbelief, because you haven’t offered enough factual and emotional support for your argument. Raise the stakes at the end. The conclusion is just as important as the introduction. It's the last chance you have to leave an impression, so make sure they remember you by raising the stakes. FORMAT AND SAMPLE CONTENT INTRODUCTION ATTENTION GETTER: Every day, I see the effects of pollution. From the trash that’s thrown into bushes to the murky lakes to the smog-filled skies, these are examples of the negative human impact on the environment. PURPOSE (state specific purpose, relate topic to audience and establish credibility): The cars we drive every day release toxic exhaust gases into the atmosphere that damage it. We should try to do better to reverse these effects now; otherwise, our world will continue to get filthier and eventually become uninhabitable. STATE THESIS & MAIN POINTS: I’m going to persuade you that going green is one solution you could do to help improve the environment by first explaining the problem, then by explaining the factors responsible for pollution, and lastly by listing ways that can help solve this problem. Connective: First, I’ll explain the problem we are facing. BODY (3-5 MAIN POINTS PREFERRED) I. MAIN POINT (state as a single declarative sentence): Pollution is a huge global problem that affects every living being on Earth. A. SUBPOINT: Pollution has adversely affected the environment. 1. According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”). 2. And acid rain, which is created when water in the atmosphere mixes with chemicals, ravage through rain forests and can even kill fish. 3. Some of the species being threatened by pollution include: dolphins, porpoises, penguins, sharks, and polar bears. B. Humans are also being affected. 1. Clean water is needed for good human and animal health, but as DoSomething.org states, over 1 billion people worldwide don’t have a means of getting clean drinking water, an... CONCLUDING PURPOSE (restates specific purpose, reinforce relevance of topic to audience): We should all learn to adopt environmentally-friendly alternatives to help improve the environment and the world. It is a worthwhile effort that will benefit you, the environment, and the future. We are at fault because the cars we drive, and many other conveniences we use, contribute to this pollution. CLOSURE/CLINCHER (end with a bang, not a whimper): Don’t you want the trash cleaned up to enjoy nature? Don’t you want the water clean for you to drink? And don’t you want to see the skies clear and blue all the time? If we don’t act now, there might not be a world to save. Go green for the sake of the future. Thank you. Are there any questions?
