Composing a speech can be really hard and often you may not even know where to begin. Not only do you have to be concise and succinct in what you want to say but you also have to fully engage the audience – there is nothing worse than audience members falling asleep or leaving the room! Here are some tips to help you write the two most common types of presentation – informative and persuasive.

Firstly, regardless of the type of speech you are giving, you have to be clear on a few different things and in no particular order these are: the purpose of your speech or presentation; the intended audience; the information that you want to impart to your audience; how you are going to impart that information; and what resources you are going to use to help your audience to understand. It can be a minefield of confusion but don’t worry – here we are going to help you by providing foolproof ways of getting ahead.

Next, ask yourself what you actually want to do. Will you be giving a presentation or will you be giving a speech? The difference between the two is in the use of visual aids. If you need or want to use visual aids, then you are giving a presentation. If you are braving it without the use of visual aids, you are giving a speech. This distinction is important as visual aids help to clarify what you are saying. Without visual aids, you will be relying on the clarity of your speech, your sentence structure, your chosen vocabulary, your verbal and non-verbal cues to ensure that the audience understands you correctly.

With that in mind, here are some step-by-step guides to ensure that, whether it is a speech or a presentation, it will be a resounding success.

Informative

You may be called upon to give an informative speech. If this is the case, it is important to remember that you are NOT trying to change the attitude of your audience nor are you trying to sell them something. You are merely trying to make them aware of something new, or something different.

1. Decide exactly what it is you are going to talk about. If you try to be too broad, you risk boring your audience. If your topic is too narrow, there is a chance that you could isolate members of your audience. Be specific and be concise. Above all, remember to share with the audience prior to the start of the speech what it is you will be telling them about.

2. Once you have narrowed down your topic, decide exactly what it is you want your audience to know. Remember – Define, Explain, Describe

3. Jot down any keywords or phrases which will help you to make your meaning clear to the audience. If a word or phrase is ambiguous then make sure to choose another, then change it for something less ambiguous. If there is no alternative, then remember that you will need to ensure complete clarity for your audience.

4. Write and edit your speech! A great way to start custom speech writing is with a hook, like a question or a joke.

5. Once your speech is written, practice reading it out loud to friends or colleagues to ensure that it is easily understood. If something isn’t understood, then you’ll need to change it.

6. Decide if visual resources are necessary. If so, make sure they enhance your presentation and are relevant.

7. Memorise what you are going to say. There is literally nothing worse than someone reading from a piece of paper.

8. Practice reading your speech out loud, record yourself and watch it back. Does your body language enhance understanding? Are you using an engaging tone of voice or are you monotone?

Persuasive

If you are giving this type of presentation remember that you are trying to change attitudes, so you need to think of both why people should be persuaded but also what could dissuade them so that you can field any questions afterward.

1. What are you trying to persuade the audience to believe or to do? Be really clear and succinct.

2. Write down reasons for and against your argument. Then, work out how you can turn the negatives into positives. Choose your three most important points – these will form the structure of your speech. To ensure your speech flows, try to choose three related points which you can link to each other.

3. What is the main point you are trying to make? This needs to go first, whilst people are at their most engaged with what you are saying. The reality is that people are alert at the start, it wanes in the middle and then picks up at the end.

4. Next, think about your second point and link it to the first, and repeat with your final point.

5. Don’t forget – at the end of your presentation recap the main points very briefly.

When writing presentations and speeches you are to structure them like this:

• Tell the audience what you’re going to tell them about.
• Then tell them what you’ve said you will tell them.
• Then tell them what you’ve told them again.

AUTHOR:

Joan Young is an aspiring journalist and copywriter with deep interest in sociology, inventions and technological progress. In a spare from traveling minute, she provides online tutoring sessions to international students and finds immense pleasure in witnessing their writing progress. Some of her insights can be found in her author’s column on her blog.