Speech Writing Skills & Making A Speech That Sounds Natural

This 'Speech Writing Skills' article is extracted from an article by Canadian-born Suzan St Maur, who is an international business writer and author based in the United Kingdom. The second part deals with actually making a speech, something which strikes dread into the heart of many a strong man.

The third part of this article, about using humor in public speaking continues on the next page.

Spoken Speech Writing Skills - Naturally

• To get a true idea of your own natural speech style, tape record yourself talking to someone in a business context and then transcribe it.

• Write in the style of the transcribed text (or that feels comfortable for you to say) - not how some people think "public speaking" should be phrased.

• Even if you want to make a formal impression on the audience, avoid long words - especially unfamiliar ones you could trip over when your stage nerves are making you edgy.

• However good your Speech Writing Skills are, don't use jargon or clichés, and especially not as crutches to prop up weak ideas or to cushion unpleasant news - that doesn't fool anyone

• Always write shorter sentences than you do for text, vary the length of them, and never follow one longish sentence with another

• When in doubt, read it aloud - if there's anything awkward you'll feel yourself tripping over it

• Don't use long or even short qualifying clauses - they work on paper or screen but not in spoken speech. Try reading this aloud: "the way forward, although not necessarily what was intended by our parent company, is to buy more components from Thailand" ? sounds odd, doesn't it? Turn it around instead: "this is not necessarily what was intended by our parent company, but the way forward is to buy more components from Thailand."

• If you list a number of items, reprise your initial thought about them afterwards or there'll be an awkward jump. Try reading this aloud: "It's taken 3 months of co-ordinated effort by HR, marketing, sales, distribution, logistics, warehousing, finance and customer service to achieve our objectives" ... falls off a cliff, doesn't it? Now add a reprise: "It's taken 3 months of co-ordinated effort by HR, marketing, sales, distribution, logistics, warehousing, finance and customer service - all these, working together to achieve our objectives."

Why Write A Full Script?

You notice that I say you must write your speech, even though I know you may deliver it from bullet points or entirely from memory.

Highly experienced public speakers with very well developed Speech Writing Skills, often do not write their speeches but work only from a memorized opening and close.

This is fine if you're a very experienced public speaker. If you're not, don't risk it.

Speech Writing Skills: A full script offers a number of advantages:

• It provides a detailed framework if you're an inexperienced speaker
• It allows you to develop and balance your content more easily
• It means you don't have to make anything up as you go along
• It acts as a safety net if you do speak from memory then forget something
• It keeps you to your allotted time (most speakers present at an average of 120 words per minute, so divide the total word count of your written speech by 120 to get its rough presentation length in minutes.)
• It allows others to cue your visual support accurately (if relevant)

The downside of creating a full script is that other people in your organization can tinker with it, if they know it exists. However this is a small price to pay for the reassurance and confidence a full script can give you. As you get more practised at speaking you will probably find that you become less dependent on the script and may work off bullet points or notes, but I still think it's worth writing the whole thing out initially.

Making A Speech

How do you feel about making a speech? How good are your Speech Writing Skills? If the thought really bothers you, then you're not alone. Most people get quite nervous about standing up in public and very few people have the confidence or skill to make a speech at a moments notice.

Most of us get nervous about making a speech, whether it's to 2000 convention delegates or a PTA meeting at our child's school. Often, though, people find that's the worst part of the whole process - the anticipation. The reality is often a lot easier to handle and can even be quite enjoyable, provided that you take the necessary precaution of doing your homework beforehand - preparation.

There are very, very few people who can get up at a moment's notice and give a good speech totally impromptu and on the spur of the moment. There are plenty of people who think they can and/or who will tell you they can, but the truth is most of them are deluding themselves about their speech writing skills and boring their audiences to tears.

There are also plenty of speakers who get up and present and make it look easy, as though they hadn't prepared anything beforehand. These are the real experts who, despite having years of speaking experience under their belts, if anything put more effort into preparation than people who speak for ten minutes once a year at the Golf Club dinner dance.

So, what about that preparation? Really, it's about remembering those key golden rules that apply to all good business writing and they are:

1.Define exactly not so much what you want to say, as what you want your speech or talk to achieve - ask yourself, "what do I want the audience to be thinking as I come to the end of my speech?"

2.Find out as much as you can about your audience and ensure your content is very, very relevant to them and their needs.

3.Use language and tone of voice that the audience will understand and identify with - and blend that in with your own natural style of speaking.

4.By all means use a bit of jargon and a few "in" phrases as long as you're certain the audience understands them, but never use jargon others may not know.

The only extra point I would make here is, remember that people can't rewind/replay or re-read you. For that reason you can't expect them to absorb as much detailed information as they would if you were to write it in a document or CD-ROM, which allow them to refer back to details as often as they want.

Knowing your audience is also unusually important here - you'll find out very quickly if you've got it wrong, because you'll see it in their faces and their body language when you are making a speech.

Canadian-born Suzan St Maur is an international business writer and author based in the United Kingdom. In addition to her consultancy work for clients in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, she contributes articles on Speech Writing Skills to more than 150 business websites and publications worldwide, and has written eleven published books. Her latest eBooks, "The MAMBA Way To Make Your Words Sell" and "Get Yourself Published" and available as PDF downloads from BookShaker.com

To subscribe to her free biweekly business writing tips eZine, TIPZ from SUZE, click here © Suzan St Maur

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