Writing a Speech

• 00:04 Okay.
• 00:05 It's time to get down the business.
• 00:06 Time to roll up our sleeves.
• 00:09 Slave over that computer screen,
• 00:11 that keyboard then start writing the speech, right.
• 00:16 Well, not so fast.
• 00:18 And let me define the various audiences here I'm speaking to.
• 00:23 If you were a president of a country, a prime minister,
• 00:28 a minister of finance, and you have thousands of people examining
• 00:33 every single letter coming out of your mouth and your written speech.
• 00:37 Yes, by all means you need to write the speech, re-write it, have it vetted,
• 00:41 have lawyers look at it.
• 00:43 The written speech is incredibly important because journalists are going to be
• 00:46 picking it apart.
• 00:49 One wrong word can cause an international controversy problems.
• 00:53 So, sure, there are times when you do have to write out a speech word for word.
• 01:00 Now, let's talk about the other 99.999% of you.
• 01:06 If you are a business person, an entrepreneur,
• 01:10 even a CEO of a publicly traded company, if you are a student,
• 01:14 a civic leader, a candidate for a local office or state office, guess what?
• 01:21 Your biggest problem in life is not that you get one comma wrong.
• 01:26 It's not that you left one word out.
• 01:28 Your biggest problem in life when it comes to speaking is that nobody will remember
• 01:33 anything you said because you were so boring and unmemorable.
• 01:38 So, it's critical that you realize that challenge when you are quote,
• 01:44 writing, unquote, your speech.
• 01:47 Now, given that reality, here is what I recommend is the best policy for
• 01:53 most people most of the time.
• 01:55 Again, there are those exceptions.
• 01:58 The solution is this, don't write out your speech.
• 02:02 Instead, work purely from an outline.
• 02:08 Narrow all your messages down to your top five.
• 02:13 Give another word or two to give you the story's examples you need.
• 02:18 If there is one really important number that you to stress, put that on.
• 02:23 But when you're finished, you need to have your outline
• 02:28 fit on a piece of paper about this big.
• 02:33 It's gonna be easier for you that way.
• 02:36 Guess who else it's easier for?
• 02:39 That's right, your audience.
• 02:42 Now I can hear some of you now saying, well, I'm TJ, I've got so
• 02:45 much information, I'll never remember that.
• 02:48 Well, guess what?
• 02:49 If you can't remember it, and you've got a whole page of notes,
• 02:54 how do you expect your audience to remember what it is you're talking about?
• 03:00 Because most likely again,
• 03:02 outside the classroom, nobody's writing down everything you say.
• 03:06 If you see them writing a lot, maybe they're writing their grocery list.
• 03:10 Or they're emailing their thoughts about last night's game.
• 03:14 So you need to simplify.
• 03:17 I've seen countless executives raised dozens sometimes hundreds of hours,
• 03:23 their whole team of communicators writing and
• 03:26 rewriting and rewriting and rewriting a speech, do they ever rehearse it?
• 03:30 No, there was no time.
• 03:32 Does the audience remember any of it?
• 03:34 No, does it read okay if you are concentrating,
• 03:40 it's quite in the room and you're reading it word for word?
• 03:43 Maybe.
• 03:44 But guess what, that's not a speech.
• 03:47 That's now a book, a pamphlet, a Kindle E-book,
• 03:50 a blog post, all of those things are perfectly fine.
• 03:55 Those can be art forms in their own right.
• 03:58 But that's not a speech.
• 03:59 So, I am begging you, don't actually write out the speech.
• 04:06 Use a simple outline, bullet points for
• 04:09 your main messages, anything else you need to jog your memory,
• 04:15 to remind you of the key stories, key examples, most important facts and
• 04:19 numbers, and it should fit on a single page.
• 04:22 That's really the most effective way to write a speech.

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