They are rare, but I think most of us know when we’ve seen and heard a ‘Killer’ speech. They move us, we are changed by them, they impact us and we are able to retell those parts of them that relate best to us - even years later. The best speeches are at least co-authored by their speaker.
The art and science of writing a speech
Such a speech does not feel too long, boring, complicated, or spoken in corporate jargon. Nor is it a massive data dump, and yet most attempts as such speeches end up this way. Why? Because there is a set of skills in creating and then delivering such a speech, and most people have never been taught either of those skills. It used to be called Oracy, alongside Numeracy and Literacy, but our education system has largely dropped it in favour of things like STEM.
A Killer speech is passionate in that it moves you emotionally, often with elation or fear. You emerge from it a changed person. Weirdly, Dr Michael Mosley’s TV shows had such an effect, yet you would be unlikely to call them speeches. RIP, Michael, you changed many people’s lives for the better. But then you had skills.
Creating the words (narrative, content and any visuals) for a Killer speech is an optimal blend of science and art. The science part is from the preciseness, conciseness, the sensible well-chosen evidence, the logical arguments. The art is from the eloquence, elegance, drama and restrained use of the Rhetorical Tools that great speech writers have used for over two thousand years.
The structure of a winning speech
There are over 350 known Rhetorical Tools. We have a table of them on our website, with explanations and worked examples, many from real speeches. Common good ones include example, metaphor, simile, anecdote and triplets.
A Killer speech is well built, structurally, for impact. It’s a vertebrate. It has a powerful, often surprising, start. The mistake is to think you need to grab attention, but that’s usually a gift due to the audience’s sense that there may be something useful coming, oft disappointed. What’s actually needed is an opening that makes the audience want more. When Greta Thunberg started her [2nd] WEF speech [in 2019] with ‘The world is on fire’, she did not mean literally, but it made world leaders sit up to hear what she meant.
The body of a speech needs a spine and ribs, to keep it all together. The spine is often called the ‘golden thread’. Call it what you want, but if you’re missing a logical block (one of the back bones), you will lose your audience. The body will contain the bulk of the words you say, perhaps ¾ of it.
A Killer speech will see the topic it covers from more than one angle. This is the classic counter-argument. It should come after the arguments that are in the body, and each counter needs a response. Barack Obama’s ‘Yes we Can’ election campaign had this: “Doing these things won’t be easy, but we’re Americans, we’ve met tough challenges before and we can again.” Cheesy to us Brits, but it’s true, it’s a call to patriotism, and that stuff works over the pond.
Closing a speech
The close of your Killer speech is also known classically as the Peroration. It should be short, it may review at the highest level what you covered, but that’s insufficient. It has to point forwards, not just backwards, be personal and emotive. The use of I, we and you make it personal. Emotion can be positive or negative (preferably the former), and needs to tell the audience what to do with your great words as they come to an end.
Public speaking skills in practice
Now it’s been built the second skill is speaking skills. How you use your voice and non-verbal/visual elements to deliver your words has a make-or-break effect. There’s a lot to say on this, but for brevity here are some of the key areas: Vocally, you must avoid disfluencies such as umm, err, repetition and filler. Pausing well is the biggest thing you can do to increase impact. Visually, we need to see the right emotions on your face, you must use your hands to gesture congruently, and how you sit, stand and move are all important.
Want to know more?
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About the author
Ewan is the Managing Director of communications advisers Grant Pearson Brown Consulting Ltd, which he co-founded in 1993. A qualified doctor, his previous roles included spells at Morgan Grenfell, County NatWest and Banque Indosuez. He advises his C-Suite clients across the economy and across Europe and the USA on pitches, presentations, speeches, media interviews, fundraising, trade sales and flotations.
