Tips from a speechwriter on how

to give a great speech

by Patrick Gant

thinkit creativeUnlock the power of writing that sells

1. Your audience wants you to succeed

• As speaker, you start with a much goodwill working in your favour in the room.

• No one wants to sit through a bad speech.

• This is your audience: more receptive to what you have to say compared to doing elevator pitches.

2. Share & be remembered

• Make sure you have a take-home piece for your audience, including contact info.

• Not full text of your speech: just salient points.

• Create a special landing page online, made just for your audience.

3. Don't hand things out before you speak

• All eyes and ears on you while you speak.

• Otherwise audience will spend their time heads down reading instead of listening to you.

4. Write for the ear, not the eye

• Unlike style for news article or research paper, write the way you talk.

• Public speaking=getting people to listen and to feel something about the experience you've created.

• Be punchy. Use short sentences. Listen to how people talk. Emulate that.

5. Attention is a scarce resource: spend it wisely

• Your audience belongs to you when you first get up there. How you treat their needs determines their sustained attention.

• Nothing you feel you have to say is as important as what you do to keep earning that attention.

• Preparation you put into structure, tone and pacing = sustained audience attention.

More speechwriting tips

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http://thinkitcreative.com/blog/tips-on-delivering-a-great-speech-part-2/

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