How to easily prepare an effective speech
Many people say that they don’t have time to write a good speech. Well that’s bulls***t!
Here’s a simple structure that will help you write a great speech in under then minutes: This really does work
and will help you construct and effective speech in less time than you could ever have thought possible.
- If you don’t already have the topic for your speech then spend 1 minutes brainstorming (or mind mapping) a list of ideas. Don’t judge at this stage just get them down on paper.
- Pick the one that you like best and then brainstorm as many different sub topics around that theme. again don’t judge just go for quantity not quality at this stage.
- Pick the three ideas that you feel comfortable talking about and then outline your speech using the following simple structure.
Speech title
Strong opening – Don’t start with the traditional “hello my name is…and I am here to talk about…. You don’t really want to put your audience to sleep do you? You need to grab their attention right from the start with either some startling facts,or figures, a challenge, a question, a quote or a short personal story.
Body – Use your three themes from the brainstorm and develop each one a little. NB: don’t forget to include some I statements that explain why this topic matters to you.
Conclusion – Don’t let your presentation tail off at the end. Finish it with a strong call to action where you spell out exactly what you want your audience to do as a result of listening to this speech.
Here’s an example of my own:
Title – I’m proud to be a salesperson
Opening – “What do you think when you ask someone “What do you do?” and they reply “I’m in sales”. Does your heart sink? Do you wonder how to end the conversation? Do you think you are going to get conned into buying something you don’t want?
Body: Actually we are all salespeople.
1) We are selling ideas – We want things to change, We want people to adopt our suggestions, We want to get our point across.
2) We are selling ourselves. Like it or not, people will make snap judgements about us and we need to be able to create a favourable first impression.
3) I believe that selling isn’t about manipulation, I believe selling is firstly about understanding the other person, their problems and needs and then helping them find a mutually beneficial solution.
Conclusion: The next time somebody asks you what you do, tell them with pride, I am a salesperson!
