There are three main ties of speech. Business speeches, political speeches and social speeches.
Professional speeches or Business Speeches include pitches and presentations, AGM speeches to stakeholders, fundraising speeches and select committee interviews and speeches.
Political speeches include getting selected speeches and getting elected speeches, constituency speeches, parliamentary speeches, special interest speeches such as Human Trafficking or Housing, factory or visit speeches and international speeches such as speeches to the United Nations and similar international organisations.
Social speeches are the most obvious – they include best man speeches, wedding speeches, funerals speeches, after dinner speeches, birthday speeches and speeches at your golf, sporting or social club.
Although as a speech writer I have helped thousands of people prepare for most own these types of speeches, my focus has always been on political speeches and business speeches.
But the same principles apply to all the different types of speeches and speechwriting – and so do the 10 elements of MessageCraft.
You can also tell a good speech from some basic key characteristics which I outline for you here.
Characteristics of a good speech:
- Clearly, confidently and naturally delivered
- Different and original – this is tricky – copy and paste speeches are just endorsement speeches
- Delivered well and showing some clarity of thought
- Made up of short words – and not many of them – long speeches are boring even when delivered by the William Hague’s of this world.
- Memorable not because of what you say but because of what your speech makes your audience think about and how your speech makes your audience feel.