This document provides tips and guidelines for writing and delivering a successful speech. It discusses writing for the ear rather than the eye, using shorter sentences, painting pictures with words, introducing the topic and relating to the audience. It also covers organizing the speech with verbal signposts, using minimal visuals, and recommended exemplar speeches from Bush, Lincoln and Webster.

1. How To Write and Deliver A
Successful Speech
Presentation by
Arise Roby

2. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Writing The Speech
Write for the ear, not for the
eye.
A speech must be written to
be heard, not read
Learn to “write aloud.”

3. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Average Number of Words
Understood Per Sentence
30
12
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Written Spoken

4. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Paint a Picture with Words
 “ So honored the British Prime Minister has
crossed an ocean to show his unity of purpose
with America.”
 “We all realize that the most freshly dug graves
belong to people our own age in Israel.”
 “They were a fortress of strength; but what
invading armies could never do, the silent artillery
of time has done . . .”

5. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Speechwriters’ Jobs Getting
Harder
90
20
8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Minutes
Listen with
understanding
Listen with
retention
Television
programming
without
commercial
break

6. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
How Many Words?
Rate of
Speech
Words per
minute
Words per 20
minute
speech
115 2300
130 2600
175 3500
Slow
Average
Fast

7. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Introduction
 Relate to your audience
 Relate to your topic
Give your audience a reason to listen to you

8. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Relating To Your AUDIENCE
Governor George W. Bush, NAACP
Convention, July 10, 2000
“I’m pleased to be here. I’m also reminded of what the great Jackie
Robinson once said when President Kennedy did something to
upset him. Robinson said that he was sure the President was a
“fine man” – but he reserved the right to change his opinion.
For those who support me – I see one or two here – I hope you
won’t change your opinion. For those who don’t, I hope you take
Jackie’s position as your own and give me a chance to tell you
what is in my heart.”

9. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Relating To Your AUDIENCE
 President Clinton, Prayer Service, Oklahoma City,
April 23, 1995. “I am honored to be here today to
represent the American people. But I have to tell you
that Hillary and I also come as parents, as husband and
wife, as people who were your neighbors for some of
the best years of our lives.”
 President Clinton, Eulogy for Yizhak Rabin,
November 6, 1995. “I ask you, the people of Israel, on
behalf of my nation that knows its own long litany of
loss, from Abraham Lincoln to President Kennedy to
Martin Luther King . . .”

10. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
President Bush, Announcement of
New Freedom Initiative (disabilities
legislation), February 1, 2002
“One of the things I enjoy most about my new job is the walk I
get to take every single morning up the colonnade from the
residence to the Oval Office. I say “up,” because the path rises
just slightly. It’s been that way since they took out the steps, so
that Franklin Roosevelt could make it to his place of work.
This house is among the first places in America to
accommodate people with disabilities . . .”
Relating To Your TOPIC

11. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Columbia University Student Mira
Kogan, Solidarity Rally for Israel,
Washington, D.C., April 15, 2002
“But as college students we all realize that the most
freshly dug graves belong to people our own age in
Israel; for when we college students see the faces of
those soldiers who are protecting the land of Israel, the
people of Israel and Jews worldwide we see our own
faces.”
Relating To Your TOPIC

12. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Organization
• Use verbal signposts in your speech
• In a speech, the listener rely on:
paragraphs
page breaks
punctuation
• Let your listener know where you
are, and where you are going
cannot

13. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Visuals
 Less is More

14. Recommended Speeches

15. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
President Bush, Address to a Joint Session
of Congress and the American People,
September 20, 2001
“Great harm has been done to us. We have
suffered a great loss. And in our grief and
anger we have found our mission and our
moment . . . The advance of human freedom –
the great achievement of our time, and the
great hope of every time – now depends on
us.”

16. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
President Lincoln, Address Delivered at
the Dedication of the Cemetery at
Gettysburg, November 19, 1863
“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we
can not consecrate – we cannot hallow – this
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above
our power to add or detract. The world will
little note, nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did
here.”

17. How To Write and Deliver a Speech
KSS
Daniel Webster, United States Senator
from Massachusetts, Reply to Hayne,
January 26, 1830
“That other sentiment, dear to every true
American heart – liberty and union, now and
forever, one and inseparable.”