Motivational Speech
Introduction
Think about a time where you could motivate the people around you—maybe your coach,
your team, a friend or your family. It could be one person or it could be a group of people.
What would you want to motivate them about? Would it be to win a game? A competition?
What would you say to them? What kind of information would you include?
Some examples of motivational speeches include:
 Moving a crowd (Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”)
 Pep talks (locker room pre-game talks)
 Youth campaigns (just say “no” to drugs; don’t give in to peer pressure)
 Encouragement (Winston Churchill “We Shall Fight Them on the Beaches”)
This is your chance to create the perfect motivational speech!
You will be writing and giving a one to two minute motivational speech. You will
pick the situation that you want to use—such as a half-time pep talk, moving a crowd
or youth campaign—to create the speech for. You will pick a purpose, audience, and
scenario that you want to cater your speech to. You will need to conduct an interview
with someone that is involved with the audience that you choose. You will be graded
on your presentation of the speech, your pre-planning for the speech, your listening
during presentations, and the quality of the interview questions and recorded answers.
Interview
You will conduct an interview to get information. This information will be used to help guide you with your speech. The
purpose of the interview is to get facts and strategies. Try to find out how the person that you’re interviewing would
motivate someone—think about different scenarios that they (and you) may encounter.
Some questions that you may ask are:
 When you’re down by 15 points, what do you do to keep your players’ spirits up?
 How do you prep your team for a tough opponent and make sure that they’re prepared?
 What are some important words that you try to make sure and include when motivating someone?
You want the questions that you ask to have more than one-word answers (such as “yes” or “no” questions). These will
give you the most information to work with. If you don’t have a coach, ask someone that is involved in what you’re
interested in. For example, if you’re involved in a club and there is no coach, you could interview the person in charge or
someone that is involved in the club.
Media
Your media piece needs to be school appropriate. If you’re addressing a sports team that is playing a tough opponent,
then your media piece may be a picture of the other team. If you’re trying to encourage someone to go for a certain place,
maybe you’ll use a place ribbon or a trophy.
If you’re uncertain about what to include, just ask!
Your media piece needs to enhance your speech in some way. This needs to be placed in the drop box (stevenp)
before your presentation. You can also email me your .jpg (stevenp@psdschools.org) In the title of your media piece, put
LastNameFirstNamePeriod# (for example, SmithJohn6)
As the speeches draw nearer, I will assign a speaking order. You are required to be prepared on the day of your speech.