In the public relations industry, being able to write a speech is essential for any PR professional. As a PR student, I realized writing press releases and pitches are constantly presented in our daily duties and classroom curriculum and seldom speeches. Indeed, writing a speech is an important skill we should all hold as public relations/communications students; and it’s important we know the difference between writing for the eye and writing for the ear.
Writing for the ear should be concise, catchy and consistent. To further enhance and improve your knowledge of writing speeches, below are some helpful tips.
- Remember a speech is intended to be heard, not read- A speech has listeners, not readers therefore you should write as you would speak.
- It should have unambiguous objectives- As any writing, it’s important to have clear and consistent objectives. Having a thesis will surely engage your audience and permit them to follow on.
- Be sure to use concrete language- It is important you paint a picture to your audience while delivering your speech to help them visualize what you are presenting. Unlike written work, the reader does not have the advantage of rereading if they had any difficulty understanding a sentence or two.
- Know your audience- Tailoring your speech to cohere with your audience is nothing but a smart move. Nowadays in any industry it is essential to know your audience.
Whether you are writing a speech for President Obama, a product launch or even for a school event, the aforementioned tips can be used as a head start to writing speeches.
Do you have any experience with speech writing? Let us know what did and didn’t work for you!
This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kadesha Holder
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