Ursula in Ukraine: structuring a speech for impact

Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv last week to deliver a powerful and moving speech in support of Ukraine. She was there the same day as Vladimir Putin delivered his rambling rant at a military parade in Moscow.

Both speeches, delivered on Europe Day, 9th May, took their inspiration from the end of the Second World War, but that’s where the parallel ends. For students of public speaking, I suggest the European Commission President’s inspiring words are worth looking at closely, an excellent example of how a clearly thought-out structure can enhance the impact of a speech. (On the other hand, you won’t learn much useful from Mr Putin’s bitter, delusional diatribe.)

Of course, there is no single way you should structure your speech. But structure there should be.

Ms von der Leyen was very effective with the technique she chose, whereas others might prefer story-telling, or a “message house”, or even a simple riff through a set of standard rhetorical questions (what I call the 5W1H technique, referring to Who, Where, Why, What, When and How).

The method Ms von der Leyen and her speechwriters chose to use on 9th May was essentially the “GOST story” approach, a technique often used by management consultants and others to elucidate the Goal, Objectives, Strategy, and Tactics required to deliver a project.?

Here’s how she turned it to good effect.

·??????The Goal. She began with a very simply worded expression of her vision of Ukraine as "the beating heart of today's European values".

·??????The Objectives. Then she delivered some specific and more tangible examples of the constituent parts of that vision, “everything we Europeans cherish, our liberty, our democracy, our freedom of thought and of speech”.

·??????The Strategy. She went on to lay out the path for Europe to deliver that vision: “In this fight, the European Union and its Member States stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.?The 9th?May symbolizes a solidarity ... born out of the lessons of the great conflicts of the 20th century. I?am here today to assure you that you can count on that very same solidarity for as long as it takes.”

·??????The Tactics. For a strategy to be seen as credible and realizable, we need to know what specific steps will be taken, when, and by whom. In the second half of her speech, Ms von der Leyen provided details on the measures Europe is taking toward its goal of protecting Ukraine as the beating heart of European values, notably ammunition deliveries, financial support, and tighter sanctions against Russia.

It was an important speech, well delivered, serving as a vivid, timely reminder of the 17th French writer Nicolas Boileau’s oft-quoted maxim, roughly paraphrased as “Clear thinking leads to clear expression, and the right words will come naturally.”

Charles Fleming,?15th May?2023?

You can read my other articles about public speaking and interview techniques on?my?Expression/Impression?website, available?here.?Please feel free to pass this article on to anyone who?you think?might appreciate it.?