Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Speech

Any tips for a good speech please? It's 8 minutes long and includes lots of pauses.

You didn't really say what kind of speech it'll be but I'll try my best.

Introduction:
Be clear, straightforward and concise. Know your purpose and audience so your introduction should be in the appropriate register (formal or modified formal). Very rarely are speeches informal.
Make sure to outline the topics you'll be covering in your speech such as 'first I'll ... then ... later' to give an overview and make it easy to follow for listeners.
Use appropriate pronouns; speak in the first, second or third personnarrative where appropriate and address the audience if needed be by using interpersonal features.

The middle bit:
Sectioned off by topics. If you're describing a narrative, use those adverbials of time eg 'several years ago', 'then', 'after', 'consequently'.
If it's a political speech aimed to gain support, you might try making promises and use the cause/effect structure when presenting your arguments.
Use lots of sign posts and disourse markers to help structure your speech. Use the active voice to make your utterances clear. Use rhetorical devices such as triple structure, rhetorical questions, mocking opposition to make yourself look better, repeated sentence starters etc

Conclusion:
Keep it brief. Ask for any questions if needed -- if speech is particularly informative. Thank the audience for listening to your drivel.

General pointers: confidence, good eye contact, speak slowly and clearly, be articulate and prepared

Best of luck :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

username2694491

Original post by giraffebaby

Any tips for a good speech please? It's 8 minutes long and includes lots of pauses.

Make it flow and get your points across early. I always put some jokes in there and have a few Qs to the audience to engage them!

Don't stand in the same spot talking at them, move around. Use your hands and really make it interesting, just think of the speeches you've hated and what they've done wrong!

Reply 3

giraffebaby

Thank you so much for your tips! It was like a mental checklist for a professional speech and now I've ticked everything off! Yay! It's just for school speeches by the way but I really want to do well so if I get a good grade, that's thanks to you guys! ;-)

Quick Reply

Latest

Articles for you

Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health courses

Which fictional lawyer are you?

What is an LLM and how could it benefit your career?

Powerful questions business students forget to ask their career advisers

Speech

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you