The art of a really good speech

The reaction I get from most people when I ask them this question is usually to stop and think, and then to start mentally crossing off all the speeches they've heard recently until they turn back to me and say: “I don't know.”

Two reasons

There are two reasons for this. The first is that most people think speeches are only about one thing - what needs to be said - when in fact a really good speech is all about three things:

1. What needs to be said in the speech
   
2. How the speech is written
   
3. How the speech is delivered
   

Fail to concentrate on any one of these three things and you can kiss your really good speech goodbye and watch it fly out the window and migrate north for the winter with the ducks.

The second reason a really good speech is as rare as a really safe neighbourhood in Johannesburg is because, for some reason, most people think they don't need any help. In a world where we outsource everything from our company's global marketing strategy, to the cutting of our lawns, it never fails to surprise me what people think they can do by themselves.

No one expects an actor to be able to do his own tax returns, or an accountant to be able to design his own website. But somehow everyone thinks they can write, prepare and deliver a speech without getting any professional help.

Some pointers

Here're some pointers about what to keep in mind if you do decide to go it alone. And some insight into the kind of help a professional can give you:

Always be plainspoken.

We tend to try and fancy up our speeches to try make them seem important. A speech is an exercise in COMMUNICATION; it's all about SPEAKING TO PEOPLE. And getting all high faluttin' isn't going to help.

At the core of every great speech is a grand theme like love, hope, triumph, etc.

This is crucial. Even though you need to be plainspoken, you need to be speaking plainly about things that fire the soul. A speech about fiscal returns is about triumph (or defeat). A best man's speech about a groom is about character, honour and love. A speech at an end of year function is about teamwork and hope for the future.

Know your audience.

So much of a speech depends on what you say and how you say it. But none of it matters if you don't understand whom you're talking to. This may seem obvious but who ever actually spends time analysing their audiences? If you don't know and understand your audience, then you may as well be selling Amway; everybody's looking at you, but no-one's listening.

Speechmaking is an art form.

If you want to deliver a great speech, then you have to understand the art of speechmaking. Most of us hate making a speech and are scared stupid when the time comes to do it. There are ways to get over this fear and to ensure that you can knock your audience's socks off, but you have to spend some time understanding the art form.

1. Making a speech is just as much about style as it is about content.
   We seldom make speeches over the phone. Speechmaking is a visual and interactive communication exercise. It's vital you take the time to analyse how you look and how you come across when you're making a speech.

   It's all about the writing and the delivery.

   It is only the very, very gifted speechmaker that can deliver a badly written speech really well. It's possible but it's very, very hard. It's just as hard to impress with a brilliantly written speech that is delivered badly. The most important thing to remember when you have to make a speech is that you cannot concentrate on any one aspect of speechmaking to the exclusion of other aspects. It's a package deal and any good speechwriter will spend time with the speechmaker working on delivery.

A great speech is an irreplaceable commodity. A great speech has the power to move, to inspire, to motivate. A great speech can mean the difference between success and failure, between winning and losing. A great speech can make a person great, can change history, can change the minds of intractable people.

We've all seen a sports movie where the coach makes a great speech to the team that gives us goose-pimples, like Al Pacino's speech in Any Given Sunday or Denzel Washington's speech in the civil-war graveyard in Remember the Titans. If you don't remember these amazing goosebump moments, then check them (and others) out at 8 inspirational football locker room speeches.

We've all seen a war movie where the king/general/freedom fighter gives a rousing speech to fire up the troops that makes us want to pick up a sword/machine gun/Molotov cocktail, such as Mel Gibson's speech in Braveheart or Kenneth Branagh's delivery of Shakespeare's famous speech in Henry V. To check out some awesome battlefield speeches go to Top 5 movie battle speeches.

Ordinary

Most of us, however, don't coach American Football teams, or lead peasant armies into battle. Most of us just have to stand up in front of friends, family and colleagues and speak about things that matter on ordinary levels, to ordinary people at ordinary functions. And this fools most of us into thinking that these ordinary occasions require ordinary speeches. And most of us are wrong.

There is no such thing as an ordinary speech, only ordinary speechmakers. Every speech is special and every audience is special. It doesn't matter whether you're speaking to a thousand people at a sales conference or to 10 people at bachelor party, every speech is an opportunity to open people's hearts and make them believe.