This
'Speech Writing Skills' article is also extracted from an article by Canadian-born
Suzan St Maur, who 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 to more than 150 business websites and publications worldwide, and has written eleven published books.
The next part of this article, "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
- 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 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.
You are here: Speech Writing Skills
Return to Your Career Change home page.
Also In This Section:
Public Speaking |
Tips For Public Speaking |
Making A Speech |
Interview Presentation Skills |
Public Speaking Presentation |
Speech Writing Skills |
Public Speaking Humor |
Public Speaking Training |
Visual Support Aids
You can also search this site for more about career success, or the whole of the web from here.
