The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

Write better

Learning to write a good speech will help you write better letters, memos, and other communications. Although speech writing is different from other kinds of writing in the sense that ear appeal is essential, a well-crafted speech has many characteristics that ought to be present in other kinds of writing. A speech must be organized logically so it is easily understandable on the first pass. A letter, memo, or report should be organized the same way. A reader shouldn't have to reread. A listener can't go back and relisten. A good speech makes use of active verbs and vivid nouns, which I call "gut" words. A lot of writing would benefit from more of that kind of language.

A good speech often relies on anecdotes and human-interest examples ...