Speech Topics

Posts Tagged ‘speech’

So, You’re an 8^th-Grader and Need a Great Speech Topic, Huh?

If you are an 8^th –grader who has been asked to write a speech, you’ve come to the right place for some great speech topics for your grade!

Writing an 8^th-grade level speech is not difficult at all once you understand what makes an interesting and memorable speech.

What you need to look for as a speech topic is what interests you and your friends the most; what do you talk about?

A Great 8^th-Grade Speech Needs to be Interesting to Other Kids and 8^th Grade Activities

A good speech does not have to be world-stopping news or awe-inspiring.

The “news” of 8^th-graders is what all the kids talk about—all the time. Listen to your friends and what subjects are most discussed like:

1. What types of things such as shopping for brand-name products like clothes  set kids apart from each other?

2. What kinds of computer games are most popular and why? Do you think playing computer games is the best kind of free-time activity? Why or why not?

3. What type(s) of music do you listen to? How did that type of music evolve? In other words, gear your speech on the history of the most popular music.
What is your favorite movie? Why? What story does the movie tell and how does it relate to you or the world around you?

4. Do you play an instrument? Who invented that instrument and how is it made? What is its “story?”

5. What is your favorite device? What is the history of the Ipod or cell phone? Why is it so important?

Interesting 8^th Grade Speech Topics that Talk about the World in and around Us

A great speech topic can talk about concerns you have in your ‘own world’ as well as concerns about world, state, and community issues.

1. What bothers you most about being an 8^th-grader? Do your parents understand that you are not a “kid” anymore? Or do you feel that kids your age are being forced to grow up too fast and “be adult?”

2. Do you think it’s more important than ever to grow your own food? Why? What’s the difference between store-bought and home-grown vegetables and fruit? Do you think that everyone should use a part of their yard to grow food instead of shrubs and grass?

3. Do you think that sexual abstinence should be encouraged? Are teenage pregnancies on the rise and how are such young parents coping with their newborns, work, and school?

4. Why do you think recycling is important? Do you recycle and, if so, how do you and your family do it? Could you think of ways to recycle more “stuff” at home? For example, you could write about making your own compost from discarded remains from fruits and vegetables to use to fertilize your yard.

5. Why are some animal species endangered? What are they and what happened to their environment? Are polar bears in trouble?

8^th Grade Speeches and Speech Topic Ideas on the Internet

A terrific speech can be written on just about anything you and your friends find interesting.

Is there something in your local newspaper or television that everyone is talking about?

One of the best and fastest ways to find a good speech topic is through the internet and news in your neighborhood and around the world.

Here are some great online resources:

1. CNN at http://www.cnn.com/ has breaking news on a variety of topics that could be used to write a speech. CNN features current affairs such as financial crisis, weather changes and problems, gun control, political and other interesting speech-worthy topics.

2. MSNBC at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ also has technical, science, and as well as late-breaking news from around the world.

3. FoxNews at http://www.foxnews.com/ has news from around the world, also broken down into sections so that you can easily find a speech topic of great interest.

Putting Your 8^th Grade Speech Together

Remember that speech writing is a lot like writing a letter: you want everything in order to explain things from beginning to end.

Also remember that it’s okay to take a stand and be controversial. Many speeches that are honest and drive home a point may not please everyone, but the speech may be talked about for quite awhile—and therefore will be remembered.

• An easy-to-follow speech-writing template is located at http://www.ismckenzie.com/outline-template-for-writing-a-speech/.

Using Experiments to Write a Speech (any age): Experiments with Easy-to-Make Objects are Fun!

The best speech topics often focus on a “show and tell” aspect that keeps the attention of the audience.

I still remember being completely enthralled when building a solar-powered radio with my dad. The radio was comprised of a wooden cigar box, mica, and a few other components and, lo and behold, it worked using the light on my bedside stand! I would fall asleep listening to all kinds of things and couldn’t WAIT to show and explain my “solar radio” to my friends and classmates.

Not only do some projects wind around to great speeches but the excitement of the presenter/speaker creates an enthusiastic air in a roomful of people. Such speeches are delightful and have the added bonus of creating a memory shared by a parent and child.

Yes, Speeches are ‘Show and Tell’

“Show and Tell” was the mainstay for many of us during our elementary school years. We brought something to talk about and wrote about what we had to say about it.

Today, the best speeches use likely takeoff’s such as the use of a specimen, a PowerPoint show to show statistics or a whole host of other visual effects to make the point of their speeches—especially those that are geared toward being persuasive. It’s a “Show Me” world and, especially with persuasive speeches, one cannot discount the use of visual aids to make their point.

I don’t know what happened during the course of the years but many children became ‘speechless’ when told they had to give a speech. Speeches for children should remain “Show and Tell” and rightly so: to remove the connotation of talking about something out of thin air without a prop.

After all, ‘speeches’ are nothing the same thing as ‘presentations’ and both use “Show and Tell” to be effective.

The Best Speeches Come from a Child’s Heart

Don’t write the speech for your child but do take an active part in listening, helping to refine it, and help your child practice without fear of ‘being dumb’. The greatest gift you can give your child is to allow them to openly express themselves and correct when and if the language is off-kilter or could be embarrassing to the audience.

A child, through innocence, is exposed to so much ‘darkness’ through the news and other inputs. Can you help your child realize a positive outcome or solution to a situation affecting your community?

Does the adoption of kittens and puppies appeal to your child? Even if you cannot own one, children can identify the need for other living things being taken care of: with heart, warmth, and food. Can your child help to raise awareness of animal cruelty?

What is the Scope of Your Child’s Ambition?

“Scope” is a word used to describe not only a goal, but the observation of the outcome—and playing a role in it.

If your son or daughter likes excavation, collection of rocks and history, then explore that. What are your native plants and how has your area developed in the last one hundred years? Great speeches perk up the mind and make people think about the present and future. After all, the future comes from us that we pass down.

The Best Speeches by Children are Often Quite Funny

More than a few young girls have waltzed into their schoolroom with a pillow under their dresses.

And those same girls proceeded to talk about how they were getting a new brother or sister. While that could be of concern to many parents, the children have told their stories in such a cute and funny way, that adults were chuckling and applauding them.

Many “just is life” topics can be used for great speeches by little ones. Many of these stories have been featured in Time Life and Reader’s Digest: “Out of the Mouth of Babes.”

Help your child to decide on a speech and have him or her give you a demonstration. Be cautious when criticizing, however: Let your child show a part of the world from his/her own eyes’.

It’s not YOUR speech. Your child’s best speech will come from their soul.

The best speeches from elementary and middle school children come from the heart that is focused on what interests them as well as their concerns. You can take a monumental speech such as saving the forest and turning it into “Let’s Save Paper So the Trees aren’t Cut Down.”

Finding a persuasive speech topic itself is not difficult. But to get your listeners really change their views or to convince them to act or to agree with your opinion and solutions is another story.

Here’s how to develop and narrow down a persuasive speech idea.

Steps

1. Determine who your listeners are because the more controversial persuasive speech topics you choose, the harder it will be to convince them. Figure out the social-economic status of your audience. How old are they? Males, females, ethnicity? What is their political, educational, religious status? What are their needs and interests?

2. Note down why the topic of your choice interests you and what your clear opinion is.

3. Answer these questions: What is attitude of your public towards your persuasive speech topic? Why do they have to agree or act? Can you make the topic more relevant to them?

4. Provide evidence, hard facts, statistics, new figures, illustrations, quotations, definitions. Ask yourself, why do I think something is true or false?

5. Appeal to the morality and values of your listeners. Why do you like or dislike something? Why do your listeners have to agree that something is right or wrong, moral or immoral, valuable or worthless? Why do you want to convince them?

6. Offer examples the public will recognize, try to find common ground on related subjects and expert testimonies, and compare your idea with oppositional ideas.

7. If you suggest a change of policy then persuade that there is a problem and get the audience to agree with your solution.

8. Appeal to human needs, to reason and to emotion. Summarize the present situation, the causes and the negative effects everybody will recognize. Then present your solution to solve the problem.

9. Set the goal of your persuasive speech topic. Formulate it in a single phrase.

Examples: Fact claim: I want to persuade that the aging population has negative effects on the economy. Value claim: I want to persuade that metal detectors in schools violate the rights of students. Policy claim: I want to persuade the public that arranged marriages should be outlawed.

10. Turn your goal into an effective persuasive speech topic statement that is clearly identifying your message.

The Aging Population Hurts The Economy, Metal Detectors In Schools Violate Students’ Rights and Arranged Marriages Should Be Outlawed are examples of a catchy persuasive speech topic statements.

Tips:

• Definition of a persuasive speech topic: It has to state or claim facts, values or policies in order to get your listeners change their views or to convince them to act or to agree with your opinion and solutions. Tip: persuade and not just inform.

Here is a useful list of informative speech topics that any age could use:

History Of Barbie

Alternative Fuels

Internet Crimes

Chemical Warfare

History Of Comic Books

The Reality Show Phenomenon

Parental Child Abduction

The Day The Music Died

Herbs As Medicine

The History Of Tobacco Use

Liposuction

DNA Evidence

Nanotechnology

Lasik Surgery

History of Transplants

First Woman Astronaut

The History Of Greyhound Dogs

History Of Makeup

The Origin Of Alphabets

Tsunamis

Human Cadavers – History Of, Uses Of (Great Informative Book On This Subject – Stiff)

Dolly The Sheep (Very First Clone Of A Mammal)

Increase In Childhood Obesity

Botox (Now Being Found To Be Useful In Pain Control)

Women In The Military

Childhood Obesity

Genetically Modified Crops

REM Sleep (Dreaming)

History Of Smoking In Movies

Medicinal Marijuana

Use your imagination to create more speech topics

If leadership is your destiny, delivering a good speech to help you win the election for President of your high school is crucial.

Follow these tips to deliver the speech to help you win at the ballot box.

Steps:

1. Start by becoming your audience. As president, you should speak to your audience, not down to your audience. It is essential to remember that a leader is not one who controls followers, but someone who is of the people. A leader is one who serves and through their actions produces many more leaders.

2. Be honest. There’s nothing peers like more than straight honesty. Open your heart and tell them the truth about you, your goals, and what you hope to do for and with them.

3. Be realistic. Set good goals in your speech and clearly outline how you will achieve them. If you have strong goals and a good plan for accomplishing them, others will perceive you as an excellent leader.

4. Be welcoming. Always emphasize how approachable you are and how much you want to work for them. People want a leader that works to involve them in decisions and ideas. Everyone wants a voice, make sure your speech says that you will give them that voice.

5. Be yourself. If you try to be someone else, the audience will know in an instant. Trust that they will want the real you as their leader.

6. Be funny. Most of your peers couldn’t care less who wins, so make note of that. You’ll earn their respect and feel they can relate to you.

Sample Speech Structure:

• Paragraph 1: Introduce yourself. Tell about the most important issues/things in life to you as a person and which personality strengths would make you right for the position.
• Paragraph 2: Set your goals and briefly discuss how you will go about achieving them.
• Paragraph 3: Let your audience know you intend to lead through service to them and want them to be actively involved. Let them know that leadership to you means getting your hands dirty right along side them and not being locked away in some room making decisions for them. Let them know you understand them and will always welcome their input.
• Paragraph 4: Finish with honesty. Tell them what the position means to you and why you hope they will give you the opportunity to lead and serve them.
• Paragraph 5: Add your slogan or catch phrase for election(this is optional).

Tips:

• Being creative also helps. Always remember, “if you make them laugh, you make them listen.” If you make them listen, your ideas will be heard. This gives you a better chance of winning.
• Don’t promise anything you can’t do. People will be very disappointed and may not vote for you again if you run for something else.
• Use plenty of body language such as hand gestures; however, don’t do too many gestures as this distracts from your speech.
• Also change the tone of your voice otherwise it will make people want to go to sleep and they obviously won’t listen

As soon as you’ve chosen your informative speech topic, it’s time to prepare a presentation.

Writing a speech sounds terrible for a lot of people, but if you know how to do it right, the process is a simple.

Make your thoughts and words organized, and you’ll be just fine.

Here are a few steps to help you write an informative speech.

• Focus the subject. For any topic at hand, you must focus on the base points that need to be made in the speech. To create a good informative speech, you must be sure that you have summarized the key points before you start.
• Analyze your audience. The best way to write a public speech that is both effective and informative is to evaluate who the audience is and cater the speech to them specifically.
• Grab their attention. Ask people a provoking question, start with a joke or lead in with weird facts that will get people thinking about your topic. The beginning of the speech must get their attention or you will lose them.
• Give the info clearly. Do not use jabber or huge words that people may have a hard time hearing or understanding. Make certain you’re able to deliver the information in the most understandable way possible, and the best way to do this is to use plain English.
• Finish strongly. Summarize the main points of your presentation, and give people something to think of. The end of the presentation is even more important then the start, because you must give your audience something to remember.

[Via eHow]

Choosing a speech topic is always a problem for most people.

Here are a few informative speech topics ideas. All of them can be changed by your needs.

• On this day in history
• Tourism and marketing
• The Darwin Awards
• Color blindness
• Why free speech matters
• Who says that crime doesn’t pay?
• The first moon landing
• When will man get to Mars?
• My Pop Idol
• My favorite dream
• Well known films
• The Spanish civil war
• The telegraph, the ‘internet’ of the 19th Century
• The rise of Nazism
• Is an owl really wise?
• Why dolphins jump out of the water
• Cats and lions – how do they compare?
• What is inside your tap water?
• Easy ways to pass exams
• How to get good grades
• U.S. territories
• Computer viruses
• The United Nations
• Ballroom dancing
• The history of your hometown
• How to drive a stick-shift
• Foreign TV shows
• Types of poetry
• How to plan a wedding
• Conspiracy theories
• All-terrain vehicles

Related:

Top Persuasive Speech Topics

How To Write A Speech

Here is a new list of Funny Speech Topics I personally suggest using.

Don’t forget that speeches made funny not only by choosing the topics.

• How to cheat on a test
• Unbelievable but true!
• My 15 minutes of fame
• Informative Speech about Jim Carey
• How to make fun every day
• How to ruin a good thing
• The working of Murphy’s Law.
• How to catch a cheater
• Funny job applicant stories.
• Ten ways to order a pizza.
• Funny computer terms.
• Funny first date experiences.
• My most profitable mistake.
• Unusual incidents.
• How to give your dog or cat a pill.
• Why I don’t want to be a millionaire.
• If I were my boss, then…
• Wine/beer/cocktail of the month
• Urban running.
• How to throw a paper airplane in class.
• Bare funny facts about men.
• Things you’ve learned from your pet

Related:

Funny Speech Topics For a Persuasive Speech

How To Write A Speech

How to Mentally Prepare for a Presentation

OK, so you’ve chosen a subject, written your speech, and right away you’re ready to speak, or are you?

This article will help you to prepare mentally and physically for giving a speech so that you can do your best!

Steps:

1. Exercise your speech using your draft. Do this a few times and each time use your outline less and less.

2. Digest your outline into 15 words that you are able to put on your note card. As you become familiar with the flow of your speech this will become simpler. These should be keywords that can help you to remember the flow of the presentation. Do not learn the speech but memorize the flow.

3. Exercise your speech using your notecard. If you are practicing any visual aids add those as well.

4. Time yourself. When exercising, time yourself to make sure that you are close to your time goal. At this point, your presentation better be a little too long (few minutes or so for a 10 minute speech) because once you actually present you will do faster than when you exercise (This won’t happen as much as you increase experience).

5. Animate the place where you will give your speech and exercise there, as realistically as possible. This will allow you to draw a realistic picture in your head as to what your speech will look like. Bring in some friends to listen as well. Feedback is always fine.

6. Do not overdo it! You do not want your speech to look rehearsed, it should be really natural and conversational, so do not exercise too much.

7. Have a good night’s sleep. You want to be fresh when it comes time to speak!

8. Have a good meal, but do not overeat. You do not want your stomach grumbling, but you also do not want to be groggy.

9. Deal with those nerves. The tips below might help you to deal with your nervousness. Remember though, a bit of nerves is good, it helps you to present with excitement and passion.

Tips:

Visualize success. Keep in mind, you care about what you’re saying, you’ve put in the time and effort and you’ll do fine!

Think truthfully. If you’re giving a controversial speech or one that the audience perhaps doesn’t want to hear, think realistically do not picture roaring applause but do picture them respecting what you have to tell.

Be comfortable in silence. There’s no need to say “hm” or extra filler words. Pauses are to your advantage. Use them to emphasise crucial points or if you need time to think, just keep in mind that no one is speeding you, they have given you time to speak, do it well.

Release nervous energy. If you’re really anxious before presenting, bend your calves or ball up your fists. This will help to abolish the adrenaline going through your body because of your excitement. If you begin to shake while presenting make a couple steps, whenever possible, this will as well get rid of some of that energy and give you a chance to regain control of those muscles.

Tips concerning presentation style. As you comply the above steps, not only will you get into a rhythm in speaking, but you’ll as well become more and more aware of what your body is doing when you speak. Here are some basic tips regarding presentation style.

Stand strong! To spread your weight out equally, your feet should be a couple of inches apart (a bit less than shoulder width). This will help you to stop shaking from side to side and allow you to stand with confidence.

Dress to impress! It’s very important what you’re wearing. You should dress in an appropriate style for the occasion and for your subject.

Start with a deep breath. Before starting to speak, look at your notes, look at the audience, make a deep breath (but not a loud one), and begin!

Speak so that everybody can hear and understand! You need to speak with a good pace that displays your excitement and heat about your subject, but do not speak too fast! You also will want to speak so that everyone in the room can hear, but don’t deafen them!

Use your style to your advantage! Be yourself. Formulas of presentation are tools that you have to your advantage and disposal, you can decide to use them to emphasise your points and enthusiasm or they can use you to emphasise your nervousness and lack of self-confidence!

[Via WikiHow]

Related:

How To Write A Speech

5 Phrases You Never Want To Hear In A Speech

Best Informative Speech Topics

Writing a speech is in a lot of ways like writing a paper, except that there’s no punishment for spelling and punctuation mistakes.  Some slang is even acceptable as long as it’s not offensive to your listeners.

Avoid using words you are not well-off pronouncing or do not know the meaning of because it can lead to a less fluently presented speech. Here are a few steps to help you:

Steps:

1. Keep in mind that all great speeches and even some not so great, require shape.

The old saying is hard to beat: “Tell them what you will tell them then tell them what you told them.”

2. “Shake hands with the audience.” You have something worth saying. One great speaker always began like this:

“Before I begin this speech, I have something to say.”

This passage was composed in a style that enabled him to reclaim a mighty tone for the informative portion of his remarks. Smile, calm down, and then get to work. You might want to start with a breaking one-liner or an anecdote.

3. Rise to the occasion.

To put it differently, feel passionately about your subject.

Remember old Uncle Bob’s tear jerking toast at the wedding? Even average folks can deliver great moments if they rise to the occasion. Make the audience feel how important the topic is to you, so that they begin to think about why they should care.

4. Focus.

A “great “speech doesn’t need to begin great and stay great to the end. It engages the listeners. It makes allowances for a dip in interest in the middle. Then, it gathers anticipation for its key moment.

John Stuart Mill, the political economist, defined the orator’s art this way: “Everything important to his purpose was said at the exact moment when he had brought the minds of his audience into the state most fitted to receive it.”

5. Build clear and sensible sequences from one thought to another.

The biggest mistake writers make is to assume people will follow their leaps of logic.

Spell out to the audience when you’re taking a turn in your thoughts with phrases like: “This brings us to the bigger problem of,” and so forth.

6. Add purpose.

A speech should be made for a reason. To inspire, to instruct, to rally, and to lead are solid purposes. To sound off, to flatter, or to bound are not.

7. Know your topic.

Whenever you can’t answer “what are you going to say?” in a single sentence, do yourself and the audience a favor: decline the presentation.

8. Write with one particular person in mind, someone you actually know.

This helps you to keep the message real and personable. This helps you anticipate reactions and keep your language down to earth.

9. Deliver the goods.

Delivery is the essence of eloquence. It requires exercise, discipline, drill, and timing.

You can be your own trainer. As you develop self-confidence, you put the audience at ease, or make them sit up.

Your eye is in contact with the people, not the page. If looking at people directly makes you nervous, try looking between them, at something on the back wall or somewhere else – as long as it looks you are establishing eye-contact. Your professional passion is contagious so use gestures to emphasize points, and make sure your tone of voice and facial expressions are appropriate for the topic.

10. Give your audience a sense of completion.

Bring them back to the beginning, but with a louder spirit.

This better be done by beginning the last paragraph with a calm, declaratory sentence; it should form in a series of semicolons; it should use the puissance of parallelism.

It had better reach to the farthest rafter and bounce with the action and heat of our time, and, forgetting everything else, it had better associate with grabbing each listener by his or her lapels and shout to their hearts and souls to say, “This is the end of the best speech you will ever have the good fortune to experience!”

11. Start writing as if you are creating an essay or informative article.

Read your draft aloud to check the flow. Listen to a recording. The style should be different than a typical essay or article. You can’t have paragraphs that go on and on.

*Rather than pack your talk with boring facts and figures, give them a handout (AFTER your talk). It’s OK to repeat or revisit important points for emphasis.

12. A speech can be a great promotion for your business.

Make communicating with your audience a breeze, with a well-written, well-rehearsed speech notes.

Tips:

• You may feel instant, sustained clapping punctuated by the occasional “Well done” and the present initiate punk who crinkles his brow and wonders out loud, “But what was really said?”
• Each person in the audience experiences your speech as an individual. Speak to them as individuals, by using words like “you” and “your” instead of “all of you” or “everybody here”; it is more direct and compelling, and will engage each member of your audience, whether it be five or five thousand.
• Focus your attention on one individual at a time, just as you would in normal, everyday conversation. This will help to relax you, and mitigate the fear of speaking to very large crowds. Shift your focus around the room, to different sections of your audience. By including every area, even when you might not be able see them individually, each person will feel as if you are speaking directly to them, not at them.
• Most speakers deal with the eye contact issue by twisting their body from side to side. They look from side to side as if watching a tennis match. Don’t make this mistake. Make eye contact using comfortable, natural body and head motions with meaningful glances at different areas.
• Smile from time to time but refrain from grinning like an idiot.
• Consider your audience’s frame of reference. A simple way to do it is to think about: Who’s in the audience? Why are they here? And after hearing your speech what’s the first thing you would like them to do or say to someone else perhaps?
• Don’t read your speech. Speak it from memory. You may miss a couple minor points (and even a major one), but if you can’t remember it long enough to say it, why would anyone else remember long enough to act on it?
• If you are not a seasoned speaker, it is fine to read your speech as long as your delivery isn’t stilted and amateurish like a kid reading from a textbook. You may not have time for memorization. If not, don’t be embarrassed to read your speech. Getting your message out counts the most. Look up and smile from time to time to let the audience know you haven’t forgotten them.
• Nearly everyone can recall an early experience when they were obsessed with memorization and all of a sudden drew a blank. It can derail a presentation. Be comfortable with your subject and have the bullet points on a few 3×5 cards. Calm down and do not be afraid about flawless delivery; your audience probably will not hold it against you.
• Try using an impressive pause to underline a crucial point. Stop talking for a second and look as if you are pondering your next words.
• Vary the speed of delivery and the loudness of your voice. Talk faster and louder when moving on to a new thought. Speak slowly and lower your voice for emphasis.
• You might want to play if you lived for this presentation your entire life and give it everything you got.
• You are able to drive back a fear of gibing a speech buy learning your topic. Having a commanding knowledge of your topic will show in you, just like not knowing your topic will show-even more so.
• Practice your speech with someone else if possible, and ask him/her for input.
• People say “Thank you” to signal that, yes, the speech is over. It is a very weak ending to a speech. You really shouldn’t thank the audience, any more than they should thank you. You’ve given the people a significant experience and they’ve given you their enthusiastic attention. Call it even.
• End your speech with the final forceful sentence. Signal the end simply by smiling and stepping away from the lectern or podium. If you didn’t use a lectern (always a good idea), smile and wave, take a bow, or move to shake hands with someone to signal the end of your dazzling performance. The speech itself might have been a snore fest but at least you’ll have a polished exit.
• If the speech is followed by questions/answers, it’s OK to come BACK to the podium or front of the room when the applause dies down. You don’t have to stay up there.
• Whenever you’re delivering solemn speech, chuck the smile. Make your voice and facial expression sincere and serious at all times. Just emulate a newscaster when they are bringing sad news.
• A legendary actor used this formula to give him confidence in front of people: Imagine a ray of energy emanating from deep in the earth and radiating up through your heels, up your spine, and then throughout your body. Keep this image in the back of your mind as you deliver your lines (er, speech).
• If you have a lot of time to practice, you might want to try some gestures. It’s better than stuffing your hands in your pockets or folded with the fingers laced. However, if your gestures are awkward and distracting, keep your hands in your pockets.
• Watch President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech. JFK made up stabbing your closed hand forward while touching your thumb with your bend forefinger. A lot of major public figures now use that trick.
• You better think before including flip charts into your presentation. Eventually you will find yourself paying too much attention to your flip chart and not the audience. People will be distracted by your scribbling or watching you blunder with your demonstrations. Speakers like stage props because they can help taking away the focus. Use whatever best suits you.
• Who better to write your introduction than you? Before your speech, contact the person who will be introducing you and give them your introduction. Unless they are a total idiot, they will be thankful that you saved them the chore of drafting your introduction.
• Be conscious of ummms and ahhhs. Speakers use these as filler for pauses, to let people know they haven’t finished their thought. They make you sound hesitant and unsure, however. Too many ummms and ahhhs get to be annoying. It’s OK to let silence intrude on your sentence.
• You better avoid the mannerism called “uppertalk” It’s the ending words with a question. Not only is it annoying? It makes you sound inexperienced and very uncertain of yourself. No one will be able to stand to listen to you?

Warnings

• Don’t be a windbag. Time your speech in a few practice runs. If it goes more than five minutes you had better be a spellbinding speaker. The typical amateur speaker will have the audience checking their watches in about two minutes. Keep in mind, Lincoln only needed a few minutes for the Gettysburg Address!

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Write a Speech. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.