| First Page | Tips: Researching, Writing & Performing Speeches | When to use a speechwriter | Questions | About us | Services & fees |
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Tips: Researching, Writing & Performing Speeches Your choice: a written text?You may be wary of using a fully written speech or presentation. You have sat through speakers who read --and drone on and on. The advice of some trainers: never read a speech. Right. In the real world of business, you normally don't have the time to memorize every key point well enough to be confident that you won't freeze, forget, stumble or wander ungrammatically. Notes as reminders can be --in a word-- deficient. You can enjoy the supreme confidence of having every word, every carefully crafted phrase right in front of you --accurate, succinct and compelling-- and establish excellent rapport with your audience.1. Perform. Don't read the speech --perform it. Radio announcers read scripts --and can create an entire empire in your mind. Full text and all, you can converse, engage your audience, establish your ideas, deliver your message. 2. Use big, bold type. Good:14 pt (Big). Better: 16 pt. (Bigger). You should then see the text easily at a distance as it lies on the lectern. Prepare it in upper and lower case (NOT ALL CAPITALS)--it's easier to read. 3. Write to speak. Complete words on the same line (no hyphens). For abbreviations, use dashes "G-N-P" "U-S-A". Spell out figures: "30-million dollars." Spell unfamiliar words and names phonetically in parentheses: "Cholmondeley (Chum-ley) Castle." 4. Use white space. After the title page, on the first page, leave the top third blank for last minute local references in your opening. Throughout, use double space --triple space between paragraphs, wide margins, very short paragraphs. Number the pages, top center. More paper, less stress, superior performance. At about 125 words a page --one page a minute-- you know the length. 5. Look up. Complete paragraphs on the same page, providing natural pauses and smooth continuity. As a norm, use only the top half of the page. You then can appear to be looking at your audience almost constantly. 6. Use reminders. Cues, marked on your script with a red felt tip pen, can enhance your performance. Underline emphasized words. Mark pauses //. Write cues in the margin: (Smile) (Look up) (Look right/left) (Speak up). You want poise, confidence, familiarity with the text, and no stumbling over words? Invest some time in rehearsing. 7. Stand and deliver. Don't staple your text --keep it flat in a folder. Remove any paper clips and quietly slip your script inside the lectern beforehand. Bring extra copies. Keep one --also marked up with cues-- right at hand, in your pocket or purse, if necessary. Your own copy could suddenly go missing. 8. You're on. As you speak, simply slide each page smoothly to the left as you finish. If you are performing well, handling your script unobtrusively, no one need know. No conspicuous turning of page after page as people despair of ever escaping. 9. Converse. Speak as you would in normal conversation: voice up, voice down; faster, slower; differing tones, pauses. All provide emphasis, variety and a natural manner. Look, in turn, at various persons in the audience. Speak --deliberately--to each one. If your speech is reasonably short, well written and well performed, there's no rush. 10. Get maximum impact. Have lots of copies, possibly a longer version with more details, available for distribution at the event, and later on: personal contacts, news media, mail, e-mail, web sites. |
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Garrett Patterson TheSpeechWriters.com 1-613-247-9944 GarrettPatterson@sympatico.ca |
| First Page | Tips: Researching, Writing & Performing Speeches | When to use a speechwriter | Questions | About us | Services & fees |
