Effective speeches and presentations don’t happen by accident – they are driven by a specific purpose decided in advance by the speaker.
The most common speech purposes are: to inform, to persuade, to inspire, or simply to entertain. And while a speech may achieve more than one of these aims it will very likely have a single central purpose that must be achieved above all else.
Before you prepare any sort of talk, however small, ask yourself “what specifically am I trying to achieve?” Do you want to educate my audience about a particular topic? Inspire or persuade them to take a particular course of action? Or simply make them laugh?
Each type of speech places different demands on the audience and requires a different approach from the speaker.
At Toastmasters, working at your own pace through the ten speech projects in the Competent Communicator manual will give you the opportunity to practice all four types of speech. You’ll learn to pick an appropriate structure, research any supporting material and use visual aids as required.
