Article Category: Speechwriting Show
by Andrew Dlugan The previous article in the Speech Preparation Series described how to select your speech topic and your core message. This article describes how to support your core message with a speech outline, and provides numerous examples. This is the second step in the six-step speech preparation process. Writing an outline is, unfortunately, a step that many skip. The most common excuse is simply “No time.” This is unfortunate because time spent on an outline is time well spent. It is necessary to ensure that you craft a coherent and focussed presentation. Contents Writing a Speech OutlineAn outline is a blueprint for your presentation.
Basic Speech Outlines“An outline is a blueprint for your presentation.” The basic speech outline template for structural elements is:
Similarly, the basic speech outline template for logical elements is the familiar advice:
Put these together, and you have the start of a generic speech outline:
It is surprising how well this simple 3-part outline template works for a wide range of speech topics. Incidentally, this same basic formula can be seen in novels, short stories, movies, plays, reports, business briefings, emails, memos, and many other forms of communication. For many more examples, check out Why Successful Speech Outlines follow the Rule of Three. Variants or Examples of Speech OutlinesExample: Story-based OutlineSome people believe that stories are the best building blocks for speeches. For example, in The Story Factor (Annette Simmons), the author claims that storytelling is the key to business communications.
Example: Scientific Conference Talk OutlineThe outline for many scientific talks mirrors the scientific method:
Example: Community Association Meeting Speech Outline
Example: Business Proposal to Investors
Other Speech Outline Writing Tips“When sequencing your outline points, try to avoid random order. Seek and extract the meaningful relationship.” Note that all of these speech outline examples are appropriate for a short six to ten minute speech. Longer time windows will obviously allow for more detailed outlines. You may be able to customize one of the generic speech outline formats for your speech; more likely, you will need to craft your own to fit your situation. A few other things to consider:
Speech Outline Example — Face the WindHere is the original outline that I put together for the Face the Wind speech. Comments follow which represent my thinking at the time of writing the outline.
Comments on Face the Wind OutlineAt the outline stage, I set up many key elements of the speech. I determined the three main stories, planned humorous opening, identified a few key phrases to incorporate, established contrast (tree/people), used a metaphor (roots of people), and concluded with a call-to-action. Opening – I wanted to open with humor to offset the drama later in the speech. Also, I wanted to connect with the audience as a homeowner as many in the audience are also homeowners. Story #1 – I wanted the first story to establish the “strong roots… strong tree” connection. By establishing that trees have strong roots, it makes the fact that they were toppled in the storm (story #2) more dramatic. Story #2 – This story was essentially an expansion of the “wind came from a different direction” theory of arborists that I picked up several months prior from my friend. The fact that trees cannot face the wind is the key analogy in this speech, although the audience doesn’t know it yet. Story #3 – This story tells about the struggles which eventually led to the birth of Maximus. The key element here is the contrast between trees and people (who can face the wind). Next in the Speech Preparation SeriesThe next article in this series discusses the causes of writer’s block and writing the first draft of your speech.
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