Making a Speech Easy
You may have heard it said, “It is not what you say, but how you say it.” When delivering an effective speech not only do your words matter as much as the delivery your posture, humor and confidence goes a long way to leave an impression on your audience.
Long after you have left the limelight how you presented yourself will be remembered. Were you funny? Did you sound sincere? Honest? Did you smile, cry or laugh? Did you make them laugh, cry or smile?
There is much more to writing and delivering an effective speech than putting together its three essential parts: its introduction, its body and its conclusion. Not only must you present these in their precise order you must add a fourth element to be effective. After your introduction stating your purpose or an SPS, Specific Purpose Statement, before the body and conclusion will get your point across.
But remember you are planning a wedding speech. Not one for a seminar or political gathering. Most of your audience will know you. And in most cases those that doing want to like you and are truly interested in hearing what you have to say.
Planning a Memorable Wedding Speech
There is really no need to stress over your wedding speech. This is actually easier than most other forms of public speaking. Your audience knows you and in most cases will expect you to be nervous.
It is OK to use prompt cards if you do not feel confident memorizing your wedding speech. Using cards is better than a piece of paper not only are they smaller with some substance they can be less obvious if your hands begin to shake.
Try putting just your key points on the cards, not your whole wedding speech. This will deter you from reading and looking down at the cards. Look up around the entire room; make eye contact with the guests. Try to engage everyone in the whole room through your body language.
Keep your wedding speech brief. It is best to leave them wanting more than dragging on and loosing there attention. This tip also limits your need to prepare as you do not have to prepare as much to say.
Keep the content of your wedding speech neutral and high energy. At all costs avoid being crude, rude or sarcastic. It is highly inappropriate, especially if there are older, or very much younger, guests at the wedding. Stay away from private jokes or innuendo.
Consider using a funny memory as your first line of you wedding speech. This will relax you and get the attentions of the guests. Sharing something unique and entertaining about the bride or groom usually brings a smile.
Be sure you don’t forget proper wedding speech etiquette. It is important to thank the right people, in the right order for their help.
Do not panic! If the worst happens and you forget your wedding speech. Take a deep breath and simply speak from the heart. This is a joyous occasion for you and your family. Let them know how happy you feel!
Here is your Step by Step guide to an easy wedding speech
Wedding Speech Step 1:
Plan you key points, you only need one or two or just use the format below. It’s a wedding speech not a seminar.
Wedding Speech Step 2:
Recall an entertaining or emotional opening story for you wedding speech, a quirk about the Bride and or Groom is always good for a laugh.
Wedding Speech Step 3:
Thank all the appropriate persons at the end of your wedding speech. (Especially those who are paying)
If appropriate mention the bridal party, any key organizers, persons who have travelled a long distance to attend, perhaps thank the caterers, band etc. Maybe comment on the good looks of the beautiful bride or handsome groom as appropriate.
Wedding Speech Step 4:
Always close with a heartfelt comment. Check out our wedding speech closers page for ideas!
Ten Key Rules to Making a Speech Easy
Here are some rules from Phillip Theibert. He has over 15 year’s experience as a corporate speechwriter for CEO and politicians. He really knows what does and does not work in a speech. Here are his ten key rules:
Ten Key Steps to a Great Speech
1. All speeches follow a basic pattern. “Tell them what you are going to say, say it, tell them what you said.”
2. You do not need to open with a joke, despite what everyone tells you. Chances are the audience has heard the joke before and will laugh politely – and they are really thinking – what a lame joke. Plus why waste time looking for jokes to open your speech, when you should be focusing on what message you want them to walk away with?
3. The best opening is to compliment your audience. This creates an instance rapport with your audience. For instance – “I am very flattered to be asked to speak to you tonight. I recognize that you are all outstanding professionals and am honored to share some thoughts with you tonight about ______.
4, Know the organization you are speaking to. For instance if you are addressing The Society of Professional Engineers, do some research and find out how long the organization has been in existence, some milestones it has accomplished, some famous members and perhaps its future goals. You can add these to your opening, showing that you care about the organization they thought it was important to join.
5. Know your audience. Why did they invite you? What are their main concerns? What do they want to learn from your speech? You cannot guess at what they want. Talk to someone who scheduled the speech and find out what THEY want you to discuss. Not what YOU want to discuss.
6. Don’t get fancy. Simply say – I am here tonight to talk about _____. For instance you might say, “I am here to talk about the importance of sales training to an organization.”
7. Next – don’t cover too much in a speech. Cover three key points. After you introduce your topic – break it into three key points. For example: There are three important reasons that you should have a comprehensive training program for your sales people. First, a comprehensive training session will help them to use their time wisely. Two, it will help them identify leads they might miss. And third, it will teach them the importance of follow-up and closing the sales.
8. The three key points are the outline of the speech. Let’s look at our example of why organizations need a comprehensive sales training program. You will cover:
Using time wisely
Identifying and finding leads
Follow up and closing a sales.
Bingo! – There are the three main parts of your speech.
9. Back up each section with specific examples, stats and a good war-story. For instance – look at the first point you want to make. Using Time Wisely. Tell the audience how people who go through professional sales training are 50 percent more efficient. Tell the audience the key ways that sales people waste time. Then tell a story. Audiences love stories. Tell a specific story about someone who went through sales training and how he or she increased the use of their time, how they became more efficient.
10. The ending. Tell them – what you said. Simply repeat the three key points you covered, emphasize why they are important. Then thank the audience for letting you speak and once again tell them how great they are and how honored you were to speak with them. Politeness goes a long way!
That’s just about it. Simply remember there are three key parts to every speech. In the opening, you told them “what you were going to say.” You clearly laid out your main topic and the three key issues you would cover. Then “you said it”. You covered your three key points and brought them home to the audience with stats, examples and a great story. Then you wrapped up the speech “by telling them what you said“. You emphasized your key points and reminded them why the points were important.
Giving a speech is not that hard. You must stick to your main topic, reinforce your three key points and you will be sure to be a hit. Don’t worry about being a comic or entertaining the audience. They want you to be professional and share important information with them.
And, of course, make sure that your clothing does not distract from your message. If fly is not at half-mast or your blouse is unbuttoned that is what your audience will remember and not a single word you said.
