How to write a 5 - 6 minute long speech?

I can't give you a number as it depends on so many factors: pace of talking, visual representation (diagrams, graphs, etc), questions and answers. The important thing to remember is breaking the speech up into categories. This will better help you judge how long to speak for. Have a beginning (introduction), middle (body), and ending (conclusion). You should have about 3 main points and within each point have a couple sub-points and examples to back up your opinion or fact with similarities. Good luck!

Some other tips maybe to have a strong opening as this sets the stage of what the audience can expect from your speech. They will judge you in the first 30secs as I understand it so make sure it's something that will hold their attention. I.e - tell them some of the points that you'll be covering in your talk.

Practice your speech again and again before a mirror or small audience if possible. It's best not to read directly off the paper word for word. See if you can just jot down some key points that will help you stay on track with your speech.

Maintain eye contact with the audience as you speak. Pause briefly as you share some key points then continue your talk. The key to succeeding with this is lots of practice and preparation.

All the best!

Write down the main points of your speech in a peace of paper, then write your speech in a "story form" making sure your covering all points.

Take your time, clear deep voice, be confident and assertive.

terenkleon,
Use open office, Find A text to speech program online download the mp3 and see how long the speech is via whatever audio program you use.

The rate of which you speak depends on how long it should be.
Write all your main points, practice your speech and time yourself.
If it's too long, delete some things.
If it's too short, try slowing down while you speak and that should help.

he makes a good point. After you time your speech, see if it is too long or too short. If it is too long, then cut to the chase quicker. If it is too short, speak more slowly but don't put in filler words or non-relevant points that won't help your score. You will probably do better if you get to the point and it's a bit short than fill the space and time with excess talking.

One of the most importnat things you can do is answer the question "Why should they listen to you" right up front.

Why is the topic important? Why should they listen to you as an individual?

If you don't answer that - and fast about 20% of your audience will switch off and you'll have really difficulty getting them back. Just one of the tricks I learnt as an NLP Master practitioner.

Imogen

A six minute speech is up and around a thousand written words. If you're the kind of person that talks slowly with pauses here and there, that might be longer. If you talk quickly and enthusiastically a thousand words could end up being four minutes.

However long you make your speech: practice it at home and time it. A) it will make sure you'll do the speech fluently when you have to B) you'll know for sure how long it takes.

Not related to your speech-make sure that you keep your voice dynamic while talking, to keep a confident face and posture, and just to make it good to listen to, because the best speech can be ruined by bad speaking.
Good luck!

I really like imogen's point, "why should they listen to you?" This is good to think about and should help you emphasize what you really need to see and why they should be paying attention.

I would add that if you use notes throughout then the word count recommendations apply depending on you pace.

The general format is: (a) tell them what you're going to tell them (b) tell them (c) tell them what you just told them.

That has helped me on numerous occasions for developing speeches.

Hope that helps!

jordan.s wrote:I really like imogen's point, "why should they listen to you?" This is good to think about and should help you emphasize what you really need to see and why they should be paying attention.

Great point!

I would like to add also that when using statistics, make them relevant to the audience. As example, "...30 million so and so will be affected in the next 2 months..." doesn't necessarily mean anything until you put it in context to something. Make it relevant.

"That means the number of people affected is 30 times the size of our city, assuming your city is 1million population. Okay, that's a pretty cheesy example but I think you get the point.

You don't want to do that with every stat but your choice ones you do. Otherwise, your audience will go numb pretty fast on you.

Hope that helps.
a

those are all good points (especially applying the example to context more relevant to you). It's as if reading about a news story that pertains or you know someone in it. It should stay more prevalent in your mind and affect your decision making.

Hey terenkleon,

To deliver a speech with confidence, you need to prepare your contents with your best ability.

Tips I have in mind:
1. Know your audience, understand what they want to hear
2. Prepare your contents with precise information
3. Make sure your content is with opening, body and conclusion
4. Get a mentor (if you have) to read through your speech

Above tips will be useless if you do not rehearse, rehearse and rehearse.

Make sure you rehearse enough to remember your speech. Never memorize your speech. List out the points you would like to deliver, then deliver the point by elaborating your own self. The more your rehearse with your own elaboration, the better you will be.

Good luck