Developing the Body of Your Speech

Have you ever listened to a speech where the speaker jumped all over the place? At the conclusion, you had no idea what the purpose of the speech was or whether it was achieved. You’re just confused.

We know that the opening and the conclusion are important to gaining your audience’s attention and leaving them upbeat and positive about your talk. The middle of your speech is the main course, the meat and potatoes of why you’re presenting. How do you make it just as exciting as the opening and conclusion?

Start with asking yourself a few questions. Why are you doing this particular speech? Are you trying to convince the audience to donate to a worthwhile cause? Are you informing employees of the company’s strategic plan for the year? Are you there to entertain? Are you hoping to get your audience to live a healthier lifestyle? Once you know the why of your speech, you can now develop the middle or body.

Depending on the amount of time you have, limit the key points in the body of the speech to three to five issues, more if you have time. For each main point you will want to have support information. Now the question is how do you put it all together so your audience understands your message?

Developing the body of a speech can be done in different, but equally effective ways:

• Chronological order. This works well for technical, persuasive, and storytelling speeches.

• Cause and effect. Very effective for persuasive speeches. Perhaps your goal is to convince the audience to start eating organic foods. You can start by giving some statistics about the amount of pesticides on fruits and vegetables, or the amount of hormones in meat, then discussing the effects on the human body.

• Problem and Solution. This format is particularly useful for persuasive speeches. Convince parents that the school needs a new gym floor, or challenge your club to change the meeting date to draw more members.

• Topical. Topical is useful for entertaining speeches. Several different ideas form the key points of your speech, but they all support the overall theme of your talk. Topical is also useful for informative speeches.

• Classification. For informative and persuasive speeches. For example if your talk is about taking good photographs. You could use classifications such as rule of thirds, f stops, shutter speeds, and best light.

For any particular topic, you could use more than one of the above to develop the body of your speech. Choose one, and be consistent with it throughout your speech.

You now have the beginning, the middle and the end of your presentation. It’s organized, and easily understood. Now you can wow the audience with your opening, develop the body of the speech in a logical, clearly understood way and conclude memorably. You’re ready!

Mary Anthes is a retired business owner, speaker and a Distinguished Toastmaster. She can be reached at nmanthes@shaw.ca.