Write and Deliver an Outstanding Speech

During 30 years of acting, training and professional speaking I have observed four key elements in every great speech - represented by the acronym PEPP.

Speak with PURPOSE
Draw from your EXPERIENCE
Present with PASSION
Make it a PERFORMANCE

Purpose Set a clear and definite purpose to your speech and let the audience know what that is up front.

Doing this keeps you focused on a single message. Your audience cannot process more than one message anyway and they will often be hearing lots of other things at the same meeting. Make your message something they can remember easily and repeat in a variety of different ways so they don't forget it.

"What do you want the audience to remember from your speech?"

If you can get a single message clear in their minds it will act as a trigger help them remember the entire speech later. But there is another very important element to your purpose.

What do you want the audience to do after your speech?

Read your report, sign up for a newsletter, come to your trade-show booth, give you their business card, buy your product, vote for you, change their lifes... Be clear exactly what you want the audience to do and make it easy for them to do it.

Experience/Expertise - Speak from your experience and expertise. If you have not earned to the right to speak on the topic - don't speak.

Use three or four key points to support your message and illustrate them with personal stories. We all like and remember stories and they introduce natural humour and drama into a speech. It is also easy for you to remember stories you have lived through.

Passion - Love your topic; be passionate about the topic and your desire to entertain the audience with it.

If the topic is not something you are passionate about, link it to something you are passionate about. Love the audience and they will love you back. The more passionate you are about the topic, the more memorable and entertaining your speech will be and the easier it is to deliver.

Performance - No matter what the topic or occasion, when you speak - THIS IS SHOW BUSINESS.

You must give the audience more than they can get from reading - so have fun, involve the audience, let the power into your voice, be playful, use self deprecating humour, become a storyteller, and remember that used well - silence...

...is the speakers most powerful tool.

Speaking to a group of people is the number one fear in life - well ahead of death. But the real fear is not of speaking to a group of people - it is fear of acute embarrassment.

We fear making a complete and utter fool of ourselves in front of friends, colleagues and people that matter, and we have powerful emotional memories from childhood of being embarrassed. These anchored memories are dramatically recalled and reinforced every time we think about speaking in public.

What are the consequences of this fear?

It leads us to a conclusion that we are "not good enough." We develop alibis, "put down scripts", to avoid the trauma of speaking in public. "I've nothing worth saying," or "My life is pretty boring," or "It's all been said already." They are not true, they are a survival mechanism to prevent us being put into a position of having to speak in public.

One of the worst side effects of this process is that people "keep their heads down", disempowering themselves by never standing to speak, avoiding promotion and sabotaging their careers. A vicious circle all build on the fear of speaking in public.

How do you overcome this Fear?

Remembering that the real fear is of making a fool of yourself, the key to overcoming fear of public speaking is in the content of the speech, not it's preparation and delivery.

1. Speak from Experience

Speak on a topic about which you have earned the right to speak. If you speak about something you know well, if you speak on a topic about which you feel passionate then you are going to feel far more confident.

2. Become a Storyteller

Develop stories about your experiences in life and in work. Start getting into the habit of telling stories to friends and colleagues socially or at work. Stories are easy for us to remember as speakers and easy for the audience to remember.

3. Give Your Speech a Clear Purpose

When you start writing your speech, begin with a clear and definite purpose. Why are you delivering this speech? What exactly do you want to achieve with it? What are the audience expecting from it?

4. Stick to Three Supporting Points

One main message - your purpose - supported by three points all illustrated by interesting facts and stories and you have a winning speech. That makes it easy for you to remember and easy for the audience to recall. They will thank you for the clarity and you will overcome your fear because won't make a fool of yourself.