The Motivational
Speech
Definition:
A motivational speech is a highly emotional
speech that serves to urge and stimulate
a group to pursue significant goals,
choose proper strategy, correct mistakes,
etc. Additionally, a motivational speech
arms the audience with tools and
awareness they should possess to
succeed in their personal lives and in the
modern world.
Characteristics
A motivational speech can combine components
such as real life situations and memorable
stories. A motivational speech is a variety of a
persuasive speech and it is pragmatically
oriented: a recipient of a motivational speech
should experience a certain impact, i.e. change
his/her behavior, act in a certain way, or agree
with something. To this end, an imperative
mood should be used in motivational
speeches. Energetic phrases starting with "do",
"donate", "join", "create", "buy" are most likely
to reinforce the effect of a motivational speech.
Preparatory Research
A motivational speaker should realize what
positions or actions he or she is going to
popularize. Thorough preparatory research is
required to take into account numerous
factors that can influence the process of
listening and further decision-making.
1) Social factors: status, education, values of the
audience
2) Pragmatic factors: requirements, needs and
interests of the audience.
Organizing
A standard motivational speech can be
based upon several patterns.
These are:
1) Monroe's motivational sequence
2) Comparative advantages pattern
Monroe’s Motivational
Sequence
 Monroe's motivational sequence is a fivestage scheme of proving the necessity of
some changes, actions, etc.
 Many students use this outline for
motivational speech topics since Alan
Monroe invented it 70 years ago.
Stage One - Attention
 Get the attention of your public. State the
importance of your specific angle of
approach. List the main benefits to
arouse interest.
Stage Two - Need
 State the need for change. Show why it
should concern them. Relate the issue or
problem to the values, attitudes, interests
and needs of the listeners.
Stage Three - Satisfaction
 Satisfy their needs. Provide the details
and interesting facts of your plan. Show
how your solution works.
Stage Four - Visualization
 Visualize the benefits. That is the heart of
your motivational speech topic. Illustrate
them with examples, anecdotes,
comparisons, statistics, definitions and
visual aids. This is where your visual aid
should come in. Tell your public what's in
it for them!
Stage Five – Action!
 This is your call to action. Show them
what to do to implement your plan.
Comparative Advantage
Pattern
 A comparative advantage pattern is closely
related to the Monroe's motivational sequence,
but is mainly used when there are several
alternatives from which to choose. This
pattern looks like the one for motivated
sequence speech topics and is often used for
business presentations. The big difference
occurs in the satisfy and visualization steps. In
those steps you have to compare and contrast
two or more plans, solutions or alternatives.
Show your listeners which one is the best.
Comparative Advantage
Pattern Example
 Example motivational speech topic:
Compare and contrast two cellphones
and tell which one is the best one for
your job or personal life and why.
Topics
 Below you'll see a list of general categories
that can be narrowed to a topic for a
motivational speech. Use your imagination and
elaborate on these topics. These examples are
meant to motivate you to create motivational
speech topics yourself! To help you in the right
direction:
 What do you want to achieve?
 What behavior are you trying to change?
 What level of agreement do you at least want
to accomplish?

Consider these openings
for motivational topics
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Pay ...
Quit ...
Sell ...
Sign ...
Study ...
Support ...
Take ...
Volunteer ...
Vote ...
Or these . . .
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Become involved in ...
Buy ...
Change ...
Choose ...
Do ...
Donate ...
Establish ...
Join ...
Make ...
General Themes For
Motivational Speech Topics
 An other way to create motivational
speech topics is to relate these general
themes below to personal, educational or
professional activities, issues or
problems.
Consider these . . .
 Breakthroughs - Career Development - Challenge Change - Coaching - Commitment - Communication Competence - Competitiveness - Confidence Decision Making - Discipline - Effective Meetings Ensure Safety - Ergonomics - Focused Thinking Future - Involvement - Inspiration - Integrity Interpersonal Skills - Leadership - Negotiation Tactics Personal Effectiveness - Personal Growth - Personal
Improvement - Personal Productivity - Personal
Wellness - Responsibility - Self Respect - Set Realistic
Goals - Stress - Teambuilding - Teamwork - Trends Values - Work Ethics