Five steps to a Good Speech

It's international speech contest time in Toastmasters and yours truly who once talked about what not to do as part of a speech is now back to discuss how to put a 'good speech' together (although my examples would be geared more towards Toastmaster speeches, almost anyone can use the points below to formulate a good speech). Before I proceed any further let me clarify what I mean by a 'good speech'. A good speech in my opinion has five vital characteristics:

Interesting Premise
Logical Flow
Accurate facts, believable examples, credible anecdotes
Rational arguments
Clear conclusion

Now how do you go about constructing such a good speech. Here's a five step plan:

Pick an idea, a story or a thought which inspired you or affected you or has been bothering you. It doesn't matter if you pick a single line of thought or a story as the basis for your speech. The extent you are convinced about your pick is all that which matters.

Now analyze the main point in the idea/story/thought which touched you. Even a single line of thought has several points but you need to pick one main point in order to get your point across with clarity. That main point should feature prominently in both your conclusion and speech title.

Inject your personal experiences into the speech. The experiences should detail the impact and the influence of the topic in your life. Remember you cannot persuade or inspire someone unless you establish the credibility of having gone through the grind first.

Solidify your speech by providing a detailed reasoning of 'how' (use examples such as facts, stats, anecdotes) you arrived at your conclusion. The success of the speech depends a lot on this part as detailed arguments sway the audience towards you and also improve the speech value.

Specify a clear takeaway for the audience in your conclusion. Your experience (which you narrated as part of the speech) has changed you to take up a new line of thought or action. Your job at the end of the speech is to pass on that line of thought or action to the audience. A strong takeaway will allow the audience to think about your speech long after it's done.

So there you are my friends five simple steps to construct a good speech. At the end of all of this you might ask me whether following the above steps would guarantee a victory at a speech contest. I would say 'Yes', if victory for you is giving a sensible speech which will live long after in the audience minds. As for the trophies you should leave it to the judges just like I did.

Until Next Time,

Your Ex-Toastmaster,

J.J. Chaitanya

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