Ten tips for writing speeches: part two

Last month we revealed our first five tips for crafting the perfect speech. Here are five more.

6. Keep it brief and script it

Apparently, the average human being can only concentrate on someone talking for around 15 to 20 minutes. So it’s no surprise that TED talks are limited to 18 minutes. The average speaker says 110 scripted words a minute, while ad-libbing it’s nearer 70. So, if you’ve got a lot to cover, don’t give a speech: write a book. And, unless you’re a natural with plenty of time to rehearse, type up your speech and read it rather than ad-lib.

7. Be yourself
Identify your natural speaking style and try to capture that in the script. If you’re an orator, then let rip. If you like telling stories at parties, then use stories. If you’re quietly spoken, concentrate on a simple style. Whatever works for you.

Ten tips for writing speeches: part one.

Lots of conference and event agencies ask us to help write speeches for their clients. No matter what the sector, or whether it’s an internal or external audience, there are some principles that it always pays to follow. Here are the first five. And there's five more to come in the next post. To guarantee you don’t miss them, sign up here - and receive copywriting insights direct to your inbox every month.  

1. Open with a gift

This can be a joke. It doesn’t have to be a belly laugh, although that’s ideal. But just going to the effort of saying something humorous puts your audience at ease. It shows you’ve got enough respect for them to have put some thought into what you’re saying.

Not feeling funny or is comedy not the right tone? Then a brief, personal anecdote that sets up your main message can work well. It lets your audience know a bit about you. Self-deprecation is always good. It breaks down the barrier between speaker and audience.

2. Don’t be boring

The advice used to be, ‘Tell them what you’re going to say, say it, then tell them what you’ve said’. That’s still sound structural advice. However, try to set up your main message without a phrase like, ‘Today, I’d like to talk about …’ Audiences expect more engagement. If they don’t get it, they’ll be straight on their smart phones and you’ll lose them.