Before you begin developing any presentation there are 2 extremely important questions you must answer in order to ensure success. They are straightforward. They take seconds. But let me tell you… they will turn a muddled, confusing and utterly forgettable presentation and a focused, engaging and memorable experience.
Welcome to Speech Writing 101. Keep reading…
First, it is essential that you choose a purpose for your speech, because that defines what your audience will get out of sitting through it. Most speakers are content to choose a topic and build a speech around that topic. You might be content but your audience won’t be. It’s important to note that choosing a topic is not the same as choosing a clear purpose with that topic.
The purpose should be one or two sentences long (preferably one) and it should be written from the audience’s point of view. For example, "You will understand how to set up your own business in 6 easy steps."
However, that is just one of the questions you must answer. The second is equally important, because it will help you to structure your speech, as well as making sure that your purpose shines through. It can even help you to define your purpose. Are you ready?
You must choose what’s known as your Major Motive. Here is the most important point I will make in this article… You get to choose 1 Major Motive per speech! Yes, just 1. Don’t worry, I’ll explain why soon. There are 7 Major Motives to choose from. Here they are:
· Informative
· Entertaining
· Inspirational
· Persuasive
· Honouring
· Facilitating
· The Seminar
I will explain each…
Informative speeches are presentations where you inform, teach, and/or demonstrate something. If you ever attended school you will be familiar with this mode of speaking. There is no message for the audience other than the knowledge. An example of an informative speech might be “How to navigate a Microsoft Windows-based laptop in 5 easy steps.”
Entertaining speeches do the same job as entertaining television – they provide escapism! They don’t have to be funny – they can be dramatic. They may even involve an element of performance or recital. There could be a running theme or moral (within a story, for example), or there may be nothing to bind the speech together other than moment-to-moment entertainment (e.g. most stand-up comedy routines).
Inspirational speeches are designed to inspire your audience towards a noble, spiritual or universal ideal. These speeches have a high-minded message and tend to be highly emotive. The message can also be plugged into many (if not all) areas of life. An example may involve a personal story about overcoming alcoholism, with the message “everyone can change”.
Persuasive presentations are designed to sell a specific message, idea, process, concept, product or service. The motivation here is to influence your audience into a specific call to action. One of the major differences between this and an inspirational speech is that there is a specific “how to” in a persuasive speech. It’s amazing how many sellers forget to give their audience’s the “how to” after they have successful convinced them of a concept.
Honouring speeches honour an occasion, event, organisation, individual, couple or group in some way. The primary emotions are celebration and gratitude. Typical examples include wedding speeches, funeral eulogies, toasts, roasts and business-related end-of-year glass-raisers.
Facilitating is a more applied type of public speaking where you take on the role of a host, interviewer or other type of “linker” for presentations or special occasions. Typical real-life examples include radio interviews, television announcements, narrations or commentaries. There is much more of an off-the-cuff or conversational style of speaking in these situations.
I will explain the Seminar later.
At this point I’m sure you are asking, “What if I want to persuade AND inform? … AND inspire, for that matter?”
Excellent questions. Can’t you have two or more Major Motives? After all, who wouldn’t want to inspire their audience regardless of whatever else they want to achieve.
The answer is that you can indeed combine two or more motives… You can have an informative presentation that persuades, or an entertaining speech that inspires, or indeed any combination you like. But there is one important caveat…
There must be one primary choice! One boss! One Major (hence the name) Motive that other motives may support but no more.
Why only one? Am I not restricting you? In this case I can assure you that restriction equals focus… restriction equals clarity… restriction equals success.
Let me ask you a question… have you ever sat through a speech where the topic was clear, the speaker’s body language was polished, the vocals were excellent... but you weren’t sure if they were trying to teach you something, sell you something else, motivate you generally in some way, or just try to make you laugh? If you’ve ever experienced this kind of “schizophrenic” presentation… if you were left scratching your head as to why you were made to sit through the speech in the first place… the answer is usually because the Major Motive wasn't clearly chosen. The result was a mash-up of elements of two, three or four speeches cobbled together under the guise of a single speech.
The fact is that if you do try to fulfill more than one Major Motive per speech, you’ll end up presenting none of them in a truly stand-out way. They end up competing with each other. That’s the danger, and that’s why this is such an important question to get right before you write. The rule is, you are allowed one Major Motive per speech, possibly with others as cameos, helpers or influences. Otherwise you will reduce your impact. It’s as simple and essential as that.
To put this point another way, never try to deliver more than one speech per speech!
Or…
Hold a Seminar!
The Seminar a linear sequence of presentations (each with different Major Motives if you like). The seminar may involve a group of speakers, or a single presenter, but they typically last longer than 30-45 minutes because you cannot realistically fulfill two or more Major Motives in a shorter time.
If you do hold a seminar, I would encourage you to give the audience a short break in between Major Motives – it helps to transition between modes of thought. The break only needs to be 1-2 minutes, during which you could offer a group activity – for example, directing the audience members to say hello to the person next to them, or to engage in an exercise by brainstorming the answer to a question posed by you.
I understand this article was lengthy, and there were no stories to bind it together - not today. The Major Motive can be a subtle concept, or a blindingly obvious one, but trust me - clarity of purpose is essential for every speech and you cannot ensure this without putting one Motive in charge. The Major Motive is a major stepping stone on the route to successful speech-building:
· It helps you to distil the one major message and/or purpose behind your speech.
· It directly affects the elements that make up your speech (your structure).
· It helps your audience to understand the all-encompassing one thing you want your audience to think, do or feel after they listened to you.
Trust me, if you want to sell something to your audience it’s a good idea if they get the clear impression that you are selling something. If you want to teach, you should signal that you are in teaching mode. I will show you how signal your Motives (and purposes) in future blogs. I will take you through each Major Motive so you understand what makes them a success. Stay tuned for some insights and tips.
For now, just know this: Keep it simple!
One speech, one Major Motive, one purpose!
To quote author Ann Voskamp - “Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.”
Author: Eddie O'Hanlon
Welcome to Speech Writing 101. Keep reading…
First, it is essential that you choose a purpose for your speech, because that defines what your audience will get out of sitting through it. Most speakers are content to choose a topic and build a speech around that topic. You might be content but your audience won’t be. It’s important to note that choosing a topic is not the same as choosing a clear purpose with that topic.
The purpose should be one or two sentences long (preferably one) and it should be written from the audience’s point of view. For example, "You will understand how to set up your own business in 6 easy steps."
However, that is just one of the questions you must answer. The second is equally important, because it will help you to structure your speech, as well as making sure that your purpose shines through. It can even help you to define your purpose. Are you ready?
You must choose what’s known as your Major Motive. Here is the most important point I will make in this article… You get to choose 1 Major Motive per speech! Yes, just 1. Don’t worry, I’ll explain why soon. There are 7 Major Motives to choose from. Here they are:
· Informative
· Entertaining
· Inspirational
· Persuasive
· Honouring
· Facilitating
· The Seminar
I will explain each…
Informative speeches are presentations where you inform, teach, and/or demonstrate something. If you ever attended school you will be familiar with this mode of speaking. There is no message for the audience other than the knowledge. An example of an informative speech might be “How to navigate a Microsoft Windows-based laptop in 5 easy steps.”
Entertaining speeches do the same job as entertaining television – they provide escapism! They don’t have to be funny – they can be dramatic. They may even involve an element of performance or recital. There could be a running theme or moral (within a story, for example), or there may be nothing to bind the speech together other than moment-to-moment entertainment (e.g. most stand-up comedy routines).
Inspirational speeches are designed to inspire your audience towards a noble, spiritual or universal ideal. These speeches have a high-minded message and tend to be highly emotive. The message can also be plugged into many (if not all) areas of life. An example may involve a personal story about overcoming alcoholism, with the message “everyone can change”.
Persuasive presentations are designed to sell a specific message, idea, process, concept, product or service. The motivation here is to influence your audience into a specific call to action. One of the major differences between this and an inspirational speech is that there is a specific “how to” in a persuasive speech. It’s amazing how many sellers forget to give their audience’s the “how to” after they have successful convinced them of a concept.
Honouring speeches honour an occasion, event, organisation, individual, couple or group in some way. The primary emotions are celebration and gratitude. Typical examples include wedding speeches, funeral eulogies, toasts, roasts and business-related end-of-year glass-raisers.
Facilitating is a more applied type of public speaking where you take on the role of a host, interviewer or other type of “linker” for presentations or special occasions. Typical real-life examples include radio interviews, television announcements, narrations or commentaries. There is much more of an off-the-cuff or conversational style of speaking in these situations.
I will explain the Seminar later.
At this point I’m sure you are asking, “What if I want to persuade AND inform? … AND inspire, for that matter?”
Excellent questions. Can’t you have two or more Major Motives? After all, who wouldn’t want to inspire their audience regardless of whatever else they want to achieve.
The answer is that you can indeed combine two or more motives… You can have an informative presentation that persuades, or an entertaining speech that inspires, or indeed any combination you like. But there is one important caveat…
There must be one primary choice! One boss! One Major (hence the name) Motive that other motives may support but no more.
Why only one? Am I not restricting you? In this case I can assure you that restriction equals focus… restriction equals clarity… restriction equals success.
Let me ask you a question… have you ever sat through a speech where the topic was clear, the speaker’s body language was polished, the vocals were excellent... but you weren’t sure if they were trying to teach you something, sell you something else, motivate you generally in some way, or just try to make you laugh? If you’ve ever experienced this kind of “schizophrenic” presentation… if you were left scratching your head as to why you were made to sit through the speech in the first place… the answer is usually because the Major Motive wasn't clearly chosen. The result was a mash-up of elements of two, three or four speeches cobbled together under the guise of a single speech.
The fact is that if you do try to fulfill more than one Major Motive per speech, you’ll end up presenting none of them in a truly stand-out way. They end up competing with each other. That’s the danger, and that’s why this is such an important question to get right before you write. The rule is, you are allowed one Major Motive per speech, possibly with others as cameos, helpers or influences. Otherwise you will reduce your impact. It’s as simple and essential as that.
To put this point another way, never try to deliver more than one speech per speech!
Or…
Hold a Seminar!
The Seminar a linear sequence of presentations (each with different Major Motives if you like). The seminar may involve a group of speakers, or a single presenter, but they typically last longer than 30-45 minutes because you cannot realistically fulfill two or more Major Motives in a shorter time.
If you do hold a seminar, I would encourage you to give the audience a short break in between Major Motives – it helps to transition between modes of thought. The break only needs to be 1-2 minutes, during which you could offer a group activity – for example, directing the audience members to say hello to the person next to them, or to engage in an exercise by brainstorming the answer to a question posed by you.
I understand this article was lengthy, and there were no stories to bind it together - not today. The Major Motive can be a subtle concept, or a blindingly obvious one, but trust me - clarity of purpose is essential for every speech and you cannot ensure this without putting one Motive in charge. The Major Motive is a major stepping stone on the route to successful speech-building:
· It helps you to distil the one major message and/or purpose behind your speech.
· It directly affects the elements that make up your speech (your structure).
· It helps your audience to understand the all-encompassing one thing you want your audience to think, do or feel after they listened to you.
Trust me, if you want to sell something to your audience it’s a good idea if they get the clear impression that you are selling something. If you want to teach, you should signal that you are in teaching mode. I will show you how signal your Motives (and purposes) in future blogs. I will take you through each Major Motive so you understand what makes them a success. Stay tuned for some insights and tips.
For now, just know this: Keep it simple!
One speech, one Major Motive, one purpose!
To quote author Ann Voskamp - “Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.”
Author: Eddie O'Hanlon
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