Speechwriting: 4-Words, 5-Lines, 6-Basic Rules

The Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking contest was held on Aug 28, 2021. I enjoyed watching the top 3?speeches on YouTube. And many subsequent interviews, reviews, and analysis. It's wonderful to note the ever-increasing expertise and commentary in response to the question "What Makes a Speech Great?"

My favorite answer to this question still remains the John F Kennedy and Ted Sorensen approach.?

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A speech is made great, not from the words used, but from the ideas conveyed.

If the ideas, principles and values and substance of the speech are great, then it’s going to be a great speech, even if the words are pedestrian.

The words can be soaring, beautiful and eloquent but if the ideas are flat, empty or mean, it’s not a great speech.

Speechwriting comes down to:

—Four words

—Five lines ?

—Six basic rules.

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Four Words

1. Clarity

2. Brevity

3. Levity

4. Charity.

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Five Lines:

1. An outline – a plan

2. A headline – what’s the news, what do you want the public to take?

3. A front line – what’s the most important point?

4. A few sidelines – sidelines are quotations, humor and poems

5. A bottom line – an ending that makes the audience leave the hall saying, “Now that was a memorable speech.”

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Six Basic Rules:

1. Less is almost always better than more.

2. Choose each word as a precision tool.

3. Organize the text to simplify, clarify, emphasize.

4. Use variety and literary devices to reinforce memorability, not confuse or distract.

5. Employ elevated but not grandiose language.

6. Substantive ideas are the most important part of any speech.

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Reading Recommendation:

Chapter 12: Speechwriting?

from Ted Sorensen’s 2008 book “Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History”

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