Every great speech starts with a great idea, whether it's for a speech at school or at work or a talk about your area of expertise.
Here are 5 steps we have to go through, what great speakers do when they're writing a speech.
Step 1: When writing the essay or speech: Focus
All successful talks focus on a single idea worth passing on to the public, and this is what helps maintain its power. Before writing the first line, find out what the central idea is that will shape the presentation.
When you do this the talk will have only one focus, then you will see huge benefits:
Clarity: for you and your audience.
Make it easy to pass on: How do the world's great leaders inspire action? Because they are fully focused and easy to transmit because they have only one idea.
Imagine for a moment when you are digging a hole, each shovel you scoop out with sand you dig deep out of the hole. The same happens with your conversation, you can go much further with a single idea when you are speaking in public.
Make it memorable: People these days are bombarded with lots of information.
What do I mean?
What effect am I trying to have when speaking in public?
If I only had to convey one message in my speech, what would it be?
What is my purpose in speaking?
You are looking for a single clear idea that is interesting and has not been heard before.
Step 2: When writing your speech: think about your audience
Ironically, most speakers don't think about their audience. However, the best speakers are aware of the needs, questions and doubts that people in the audience may have.
Ask yourself this question, who am I talking to? Before you start writing, the first thing you should ask yourself is Who is my audience and what are they looking for? Writing a speech for human rights activists is going to be very different from a speech for business managers of a company. Technology engineers have a totally different perspective on their subject than an auditorium filled with English teachers. Thinking deeply about the needs of the audience - that's the quality of a speaker - that's what we call empathy. It is an important starting point on your journey to write a speech.
Ask yourself: Why should they listen to you? To write a great speech is always based on purpose and message. That is what qualifies you to speak; what you have to offer the public that you couldn't hear from anyone.
Ask yourself: How do you want to leave your audience? What would be the result you want as a result of the speech? Decide what your main message would be and continually return to that primary point as you write your speech. This keeps the public focused.
Step 3: build your speech
Now you have a clear focus on your speech and an idea of how to communicate that clearly to your audience. It is like the skeleton of speech. Now is the time to complete that skeleton with content:
Brainstorm- Make several lists of all the things you have in mind that you want to talk about in public. When you have the list, it will be easier to get some ideas or rearrange the points.
Categorize toward victory. All brainstorming should have a good list in several categories. Speech writing has to too. Just think of all these categories as stepping stones. Obviously if you leave a space too long they will become stumbling blocks, which can sink you and your audience. When we write a speech, it is the same when we write an article.
Key moments. Searching for key moments in your speech that will stimulate your audience's hearts, minds, and even your audience's stomachs. Find experiences and stories from more important moments that you can use to express your opinion. This is what will make your speech stand out above all others.
Step 4: create a trip
Another key to writing a speech is having the correct information in the correct order. Imagine your speech as a trip to a mountain:
