The Art Of Writing A Speech For Someone Else

The next step in speaking is when you start to write for someone else
The next step in speaking is when you start to write for someone else
Image Credit: Stanley Zimny

Many times when I’m talking with speakers they want to know what the next step is. They have been giving speeches for a while and they believe that they understand the importance of public speaking. They have been getting better at connecting with their audience, and although they may still have room for improvement they want to know how they can become better. The answer for them, and perhaps for you, can be a bit surprising. One of the best ways to become a better speaker is to start to write speeches for other people. It turns out that is actually quite difficult to do and because of that, you can learn a lot that will make you become a better speaker.


It’s All About Homework

When you agree to write a speech for someone, you will probably find yourself in a little bit of a bind. The person who will actually be giving the speech is smart and knowledgeable about some topic that you may know very little about. What this means for you is that you now have some homework to do. Any time that someone gives a speech, it will be more powerful if they can support what they are saying with stories, statistics, testimonials, anecdotes, examples, visual aids, and, of course, facts. You need to develop effective research techniques in order to get the information that you are going to need.

What you are going to end up having to do is to find a way to sift through a lot of information and find what are called the speech worthy components. It’s going to be up to you to find a way to turn facts and statistics into compelling speech content. As a speech writer you need to understand that Google is a powerful tool for collecting some of the information that you need. However, you are going to have to go further. Social media is a great way to get in contact with people who may know a great deal about what you are writing about. Not only can you use tools like this to collect the data that you need, but you can also use it to get reactions from people who will eventually be in the audience when the speaker gives the speech.


What’s Your Main Point?

As the person who is writing the speech, you need to understand that your job is going to be to take your audience on a journey. What this means for you is that before you start to write your speech, you are first going to have to talk with the person who will be giving the speech. What you are going to want to find out is where they would like their audience to end up when their speech is over? What is the destination of the speech? Before you start to create the speech you are going to have to make sure that you know where you will be starting from and where the speaker wants to end up.

As the speech writer what this means for you is that you are going to have to make sure that you are aware of your audience’s beliefs and attitudes before they show up to hear the speech. It is your responsibility to make sure that the person who will be delivering the speech has a good understanding of exactly why they are going to be giving this speech. You have to know where they want to get to. Once you know what the speech’s destination will be, you can then organize your speech so that you’ll be able to deliver your audience there by the time the speech is over.


How To Organize What You Want To Say

As a speech writer you know that if you want the audience to be able to follow along with your speaker, you are going to have to make sure that the speech is well-organized. The good news for you is that there are a number of simple time-tested organizational techniques that you can use to both quickly and efficiently structure the speech that you are writing.

One of the most popular ways to organize a speech is called the rule of three. When a speech writer uses this technique you can combine both brevity and rhythm. While you do this you’ll be using a minimal amount of information to create a pattern for the person who will be delivering the speech. When you are writing a speech this way, you may want to make the final part of your group of three the longest one. By doing this you’ll communicate to your audience that this is the most important of all of the items that you’ve presented. Additionally, by doing this you’ll be able to end your speech with a flourish that will be remembered by all.


What All Of This Means For You

As speakers, we’d all like to find ways that we can become better so that we can share the benefits of public speaking. A unique way to improve your speaking skills is to write a speech for someone else to deliver. You’ll have to take the extra steps that are required to discover who the speaker will be talking to, what their position is, and what they’d like to accomplish with their speech. None of this is easy to do, but if you can figure out how to accomplish it then you will have discovered a way to grow as a speaker.

Any time that you agree to create a speech for someone else, the first thing that you are going to have to do is some homework in order to learn what they want to speak about. You can search for information online, but you should also make use of social media to get in contact with experts and potential audience members. Any speech that we write for someone else is really designed to be a journey to take your audience from where they are to someplace else. As a speech writer, you need to work with the speech giver to determine where they want their audience to end up. If you want your audience to be able to follow along when the speech is given, you’ll have to do a good job of organizing it. One of the most popular organization techniques is to use the rule of three.

As speakers it can be a little bit strange to write a speech that you won’t be giving. However, by going through the process of creating a speech for someone else, we can grow our speaking skills. Taking the extra time to find out what the speaker wants to say and where they want to take their audience can open our eyes to what we need to be doing when we give a speech. The skills that you develop when you write a speech for someone else are skills that you’ll be able to apply the next time that you give a speech.


– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™


Question For You: How much time do you think that you should allocate when you agree to write a speech for someone else?


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Note: What we talked about are advanced speaking skills. If you are just starting out I highly recommend joining Toastmasters in order to get the benefits of public speaking. Look for a Toastmasters club to join in your home town by visiting the web site www.Toastmasters.org. Toastmasters is dedicated to helping their members to understand the importance of public speaking by developing listening skills and getting presentation tips. Toastmasters is how I got started speaking and it can help you also!

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Ok, so let’s face it. Not everyone is cut out to be the next Tony Robbins. The thought of launching yourself onto a stage, grabbing the microphone and then delivering a speech is enough to cause many people to shrink away and desperately go looking for something, anything, else to do. However, it turns out that because of the importance of public speaking public speaking is a very powerful way to communicate with a group of people. If you have an important message that you want to share, then you’re going to have to give this public speaking thing a try. If we can agree that it’s something that everyone should be able to do, then perhaps we need to have a talk about how shy people can muster up the courage to become a public speaker.