So, you want to prepare a speech. But, wait... Do you want to deliver a speech in the first place? Instead of doing something else? Probably more pleasant, or at least, less stressful?
If you answered "yes", then we're on the good path. You want to do something. And you need to start right there - why are you doing this? Not the short-term goal of having this or thar project checked, but the "deeper why" that drives your desire to become proficient in public speaking. Your deeper why is where you will draw your energies from, the place that will serve you as a source of inspiration and also the place that will remind you during times of failure of why you're doing this.
John Kennedy used to say that the only reason for giving a speech is to change the world. And we do live in a world that needs a lot of change, that needs a lot of things to be said.
What do I talk about?
The one single piece of advice here is : talk about the things you're passionate about. The things that are important and that you care about. The energy, the emotion and enthusiasm sion that you feel will permeate your speech in a way that no amount of preparation on a boring speech can replace.
Some possible sources for inspiration include:
- Personal experiences (your personal stories, dilemmas, ordeals, etc.)
- Current events
- Books and Articles
- Conversations with colleagues, friends, family - usually interesting topics show up in these that you might want to talk in a broader audience.
- Hobbies, interests, dreams and aspirations
- Recent academic research
- Movies and Docummentaries
Help! I don't have any ideas!
Ok, it does happen occasionally. It may take some time to find your true passion or to prepare for . In the meanwhile, you can use our handy speech topic generator for topics about your speech:
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What if I offend someone?
We often here that we should be respectful of everyone's opinions, that we should strive not to offend people, to engage in a "positive" conversation (whatever that means) so that we can all coexist in peace. The problem is, where do you draw the line? Is the opinion that "black people are inferior" respectable? Is the opinion that the Earth is flat respectable?
The problem with the "do not offend" approach is twofold:
- No matter how careful you are, if you speak about things that really matter, you will probably offend someone. There are all sorts of moral and belief systems in the world. From people that renounce anything that modern medicine has to offer to people that believe that Electricity is the work of the devil, to people that believe that musical instruments are contrary to God... At the end of the day, the only guaranteed way not to offend anyone is ... not to speak at all.
- Placing the responsibility for living in peace to the speaker is not very different from the twisted reasoning that places the blame on the beaten wife because she was not submissive enough to her violent husband, on the raped girl because she was dressed too provocatively, on the murdered man because he was walking at night in the wrong place, as if somehow an enraged husband would stop beating, a rapist would stop raping or a murderer would stop killing just because we're being nice. The people that engage in violence against others are always too eager to blame someone else for their own actions. In the end, not speaking out of fear for offending someone and triggering a hypothetical outburst of violence is simply giving up a fundamental freedom - the freedom of free thought and expression in exchange for security. And regarding that, Benjamin Franklin rightly said that "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Agora takes a different approach. One of our core principles is Tolerance. Tolerance is not the same as respect. Tolerance means : You understand that people with different opinions than yours exist, and you understand that they have the right to express themselves, no matter how radical, offensive or outrageous their ideas are. And you also accept that the way to engage with those ideas is through dialgoue, argumentation and debate, and never through censorship, cancellation or much less - violence.
Exactly the same applies to you - we strongly urge all our members to be active participants in society, to speak up and take a stand on the things that matter, without political correctness, without sugar coating, without euphemisms. We urge them to speak out frankly, calling things for what they are, calling a spade a spade, to speak out about the things you deeply believe in, without fear.
One of the great abolitionists and journalists of the 19th century - William Lloyd Garrison, said:
"I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; — but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD."
So are there no limits?
As with everything, no right is absolute - they all have limits when the rights of others begin. There are certain kinds of speech content that are not allowed in clubs. Please see the special article about Speech Content.
I have a subject, what's next?
The next step is selecting a single message that you want to communicate. A common mistake in beginning speakers is to try to cram into the audiences' brains a thousand different things with a single speech. This will not work - in the end the audience will remember nothing, if you're lucky. And if you're not, the audience will remember that you delivered an incohesive rambling that had no point. Focus on a single message that you want to transmit with clarity and build your speech around it. The initial projects of the Basic Educational Path will explain in detail how to do this.
The next step would be writing your speech. As you become more proficient in public speaking, you will find that it will be enough to write the outline, beginning, ending and some key moments of the speech - the rest will come from your heart. Not at the beginning though - write your speech so that you have a clear view of what you will be saying.
Once you've written your speech, do not be tempted to memorize it. A cardinal sin of public speaking is standing in front of an audience and robotically recite a memorized speech, without any improvisation or emotion. Instead, use your speech as a guide of what you want to talk about, and try to practice delivering what you wrote with your own words as they come out at the moment. This means that no two rehearsals will be the same, and that's ok. What matters is that with each rehearsal, you will be more fluent in the material you're presenting, and more confident in general.