Improving Your Speech: What You Need to Know to Make Your Speech the Best it Can Be

Being asked to give a speech is an honor that many people would prefer not to receive. If this describes you, it can help make the whole process easier to change the way you think about the responsibility. How often will you get the chance to give a speech, after all? Here are some tips that will make your speech, and the whole experience, better for everyone involved.

The best way to impress your audience with a speech isn't the same as the best way to impress a reader. You may feel that complex sentences and unusual vocabulary will impress but they don't have the same effect when spoken as they do when read. Usually, though, the best approach is to keep the speech conversational and simple. You want the audience to feel, not as if they are getting a lecture, necessarily, but that you are speaking to them on a personal level. Don't be afraid to use colloquialisms if they are appropriate for your audience. If your audience isn't full of experts on the topic you are presenting, translate the jargon into words that your audience will understand.

Anyone preparing a speech should keep in mind the old adage, "Brevity is the soul of wit." You want to keep your speech short and to the point. Don't go off on long tangents, address too many topics, or use more facts and figures than you need to make your point. This isn't about your skill as a speechwriter but rather the audience's skill as listeners.

Good delivery is as important as well-crafted words and the best way to make sure that happens is to practice. You shouldn't limit your practice to just rehearsing once you've finished writing the speech. While you're writing, try saying certain passages or lines out loud to make sure they sound as good out loud as they do in your head. This is the same technique that good scriptwriters use when crafting dialogue and it works just as well for speeches as for scripts.

Once you've read it out loud to yourself a few times, it can help to practice it in front of some good friends. This helps you see which parts of the speech really connect and which passages fall flat. This will also tell you what your laugh and applause lines are so you can make sure to pause in those spots. You don't want to wait for applause where none is given or try to speak over a crowd that's laughing too loud to hear what you're saying.

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