Speech Up

So for the past year I have been nervous about giving the Matron of Honor speech at my sister’s wedding. I am not horrible at public speaking by any means, but I definitely could improve my skills. Granted, with a few drinks I know I will be fine and probably won’t even notice the 200 people staring at me.  

For the past couple of months I have been going through old pictures and thinking of different childhood stories about my sister. Most of them I dubbed inappropriate since I don’t want to embarrass her on her big day, especially in front of her new in-laws.  

After going through hours of writing and rewriting this speech, I decided it might be a good idea to look up PR speech writing do’s and don’ts. I know this isn’t the same type of speech I would give for a company or client, but I figured this would be the perfect time to learn more about public relations speech writing. This is also a good time to look into how to write a strong speech, because there is not an undergraduate course requiring speech writing.

A few interesting tips from Ragan’s  “Eight Essential Tips for a Strong Speech,” include:

1. Connect with your audience. Make sure to connect with your audience with both eye contact and body language. It doesn’t matter if your speech is for a nonprofit or a wedding; just make sure to filter it through the audience’s interests and concerns.

2. Tell a story. Use knowledge from personal experiences to help illustrate important points in your speech.  Also, learning how improvise when telling these stories will help “unleash genuine emotions, energize the remaining words, and humanize you or your client” during the speech.

3. Start—and end—strong. Since people have the attention spans of gnats, it is best to use a strong opening statement, story or anecdote. People usually listen for the first couple of minutes before zoning out, so make good use of your time. In order to end powerfully, use a call to action or second-best story to draw in the audience.

4. Always be prepared. There aren’t any shortcuts when it comes to rehearsing. Practice is the best way to conquer nerves.

With these tips, I am hoping to tell the true story about how I grew up following in my sister’s footsteps, and how I would not be the woman I am today without her guiding me along the way. I can’t say that I will be able to conquer all of my nerves, considering this will be my only chance to give my speech. I can only hope that I prepared myself enough in the past few weeks and that the booze is strong enough for me not notice the 200 people staring at me.